Resignation
by hundan
Summary: Tony has tried so hard these last few years, especially this year, to be the honest man. Because the honest man is the one that comes out on top. And he wants to be that man, the one on top of life, the man that is happy. The one that is not alone because he's not afraid of love. And now that he has no job to focus on, maybe things can change about that.
1. Chapter 1

Okay so the season finale left a very big plot open for me to just grab onto and I had to take it! I have waited for an opportunity to write something like this for a long time so here I am.

For those of you reading The Past Forgotten, yes I am still writing that one as well :) It's going to be a very busy hiatus for me!

Anyways I hope you enjoy this story, to let you know now this will be a long story like the majority of my other stories.

Hundan.

* * *

It took a lot of courage for the three of them to do what they did, but they wouldn't have had it any other way. Gibbs was their family and they would do anything for family, even if it meant giving up the thing they all did best in life. The one thing that they seemed to do right in this world.

And yeah, for Tony it's a little strange thinking he doesn't have a job right now, that he's unemployed, because he never thought it would be like this. The world always needs someone to patrol the streets and catch the bad guys, because there is never a shortage of crime. But here he is and it's only been five hours of being that way and already he's a little lost.

He was going to ask the others out for a drink after they walked out if the director's office but in the end he didn't. He didn't feel the need to celebrate anything, because honestly what exactly was there to celebrate?

He was going to go see Gibbs but he knows the man has his own problems to deal with at the moment, he doesn't need Tony's load on his back as well. He's unsure what to do because he's confused, he's got a lot on his plate. He always thought his plate had been pretty full, but no, apparently it can fit a lot more on it.

His boss is in the middle of a battle for his career, Tony and his two best friends don't have a career, he's unsure exactly where he stands with Ziva right now because that situation is all too much and too confusing, and he's out of alcohol.

Yep, tonight wasn't looking great, but Tony had done what he'd done for family and he would do it all over again if he had to. He knows he's done right, no matter how shit he feels right now.

Tony has always tried to protect the people he cares about and so far he has done pretty well if he were to judge. He thinks about others before himself and that is exactly how he had ended up in this predicament. Because Gibbs was family and he gave it all up for him. Tony gave up everything he had worked for his entire police career, just for the one man. It might seem like a lot, but for Tony he owes that man everything.

Gibbs is the one man who has always believed in him, he's the one who has made him the man he is today and Tony would do anything for him. If Gibbs said jump, Tony would ask how high. That man was like a father to him.

There is one reason his boss is in this mess, a mess that could have been anyone of them. It's the secrets. It's the lies. It's things you do that may not be legal but humanely it's for the safety of other people, the ones that don't deserve the dark fate criminals bestow upon the innocent. Protect and serve, it's the code. And sometimes, sometimes the rules are broken and the lines are blurred. But you do what you have to do.

You try to live life doing what's right, even if it's a little wrong at the same time. But he hopes God will forgive them for their sins, because of why they do what they do. They should be considered saints, for the risk they take every day, but no. What they get is their boss accused of being the bad man, when all he does is try to be the best man he can, the best agent, _the best marine_.

He knows his boss has a lot of secrets behind him, a lot of bad ones too hidden away deep. There is a lot more pain in Gibbs than anyone truly knows. Tony feels it, he knows it's there because he is too much like Gibbs himself. It's not good for him, because Gibbs lives a hard life and if Tony is being honest he doesn't want to see himself in the older man's shoes in ten years. Why? Because Tony doesn't want to be lonely like his boss. But that side of Tony's life is complicated.

He's been trying to change that, he really has. Tony has tried so hard these last few years, especially this year, to be the honest man. Because the honest man is the one that comes out on top. And he wants to be that man, the one on top of life, the man that is happy. The one that is not alone because he's not afraid of love. But, it's hard. However, he thinks he's getting there. Slowly.

It's hard, because Ziva is hard, and his relationship with her has always been complicated. But he's trying and as of lately she's been trying too. It's confusing and sometimes a bit messy, but they both know there is _something_ there. It's just taking a long time to figure out what.

He knew what he was getting into before he let himself fall for her, because his partner had always been a complicated woman, and a stubborn one at that and it took him a long time to crack her surface and get her to really open up to him. In saying that it's not like he's the easiest man to deal with, it's probably why their relationship is so difficult.

And lately, it takes a lot of effort for him not to touch her, and he knows it's the same for her with the amount of times her hands find themselves on him.

But can you blame them? Eight years is a very long time.

Tony knows his life is going to be difficult in a lot of ways for a while, he just hopes he can get through it. It'll be tough but as long as his family sticks by him, he should be okay. Nothing is stronger than family, whether or not DNA is concerned. Family is family and if your family is made up of a bunch of slightly dysfunctional Navy cop's, then that's your family. And Tony would do anything for them.

* * *

The knock to his door in the middle of the night is what woke him. He'd fallen asleep on the couch, when exactly he wasn't sure. He stands and stretches his back and his knee gives a pop, rubbing his eyes he makes his way to the door. His watch tells him it's just before midnight and he has two guesses at who is at his door at this hour of the night.

It's either his neighbour from across the hall back from her normal Friday night out and she's had a bit to drink and she'll try her charms on him. Tony's dad must not have been enough if she keeps knocking on his door in the middle of the night like this every couple of weeks. If it's her, he is surely not going to answer, he doesn't have it in him to deal with that tonight.

Or it's Ziva. She's the only one who would come calling to his home at this hour, and after a day like today he's pretty confident it will in fact be her.

He takes one look through the peephole in the door and sees his partner. He sighs with a bit of relief, because he'd only just realized that her company tonight was the comfort that he needed. And even if they are both unemployed, she's still his partner. She always will be.

He opens the door and she greets him with a soft smile, one of slight concern once she sees him still in his work clothes minus the tie and jacket. She knows he was asleep (she has a good idea where) and that she'd woke him but in what he's dressed and the very tired look on his face, one not of sleep deprivation but mental and emotional ache, she knows her company will be better for him. She hopes.

"You know you really shouldn't sleep on that couch" she says quietly, smiling at him a little. He can see in her eyes that the only reason she feels the need to smile is for him, because deep down she's not really happy tonight. He smiles back, only for her.

"It's nicer than you think" he returns and she smiles but shakes her head, because yes it may be comfortable but that doesn't mean it's any good on his back. He steps aside then and she walks into his apartment.

She's only been here a couple of times since she stayed here that night shortly after her father's death, and he's starting to like it. He knows why he didn't open up his home to her before then, because he wasn't ready yet, heck he wasn't even ready to let his father into his home. But now that he has opened it up to her it feels so _right_. He knew from the first moment she stayed here that it was the right thing to do. He feels comfortable with her in his home.

He closes the door behind him and when he turns around Ziva is standing there, looking at him with something in her eyes. Something was bothering her. But after today it would be very hard for Tony to figure out what exactly it was out of the many things, unless she tells him. And he was counting on her doing just that. Because lately they are more open about this sort of thing.

"I went to see Gibbs" she starts, and her voice is suddenly a lot quieter than it was before. He already doesn't like where this is going.

"What did he say?" Tony asked. And yes, he was curious. He wanted to go see the older man himself but he just couldn't, he didn't want to burden Gibbs with his problems. He knows exactly why Ziva went though, because he knows she was still a little upset over the little argument she and Gibbs had about them trying to protect Gibbs from Parsons. And yeah, no matter what Gibbs had said they had still done it, they had still risked themselves for him. They'd given up a lot for him.

"He was not there" she says. And now Tony knows exactly what is really bothering her in this moment. The fact that the only father she has left is not there for her when she needs him to be. Tony doesn't like when she's upset like this.

"He will probably be at the cabin" Tony guesses, especially after someone trashed his home. When Ziva begins to shake her head and avoid his eyes, his gut doesn't like it either.

"He was not there either Tony, he is nowhere" she states, and she doesn't like this information. She doesn't like that she cannot find him.

This is the point where he reaches out and holds onto her forearm, because touch from him like this reassures her, and that's what she needs right now. That is exactly why she has ended up at his doorstep in the middle of the night, not McGee's, not Abby's, because no one gets to her like he does. No one calms her at a simple touch like him.

"It's Gibbs Ziva I am sure he is fine" Tony assured her, because Gibbs was fully capable of taking care of himself. Right? Ziva smiled a little and gave a nod in return. "Anyways he's probably just handing back the orange jumpsuit and handcuffs" Tony joked and it brought a light chuckle from her. However when that laughter died down she looked up at him a little more seriously.

"We shouldn't really joke about it" she said, sadly. Because yeah they had almost lost their boss today, and what they had to give up to stop that from happening had been far too much to joke about. But Tony cannot help it, cracking jokes and making people smile is still part of who he was.

"I know, sorry" he felt the need to apologize. He knows he did his job at making her laugh, but seeing her upset again simply does not sit well with him. He's seen her more upset in the last few months then the eight years he's known her. He's not sure if that's because it's been really rough lately or she just is not afraid to show her emotion as much as she used to. He would bet it was a bit of both.

She shook her head a smiled softly at him again. He knows what she's saying silently, that it's okay and he doesn't need to apologise. For a moment after that she just goes quiet and looks at him, holds his gaze. Something is on her mind and she wants to get it out.

"You think we did the right thing?" she asks, looking away for a moment before bringing her eyes back to his. Earlier she was very sure in herself about doing this, but there is something deep in her gut that tells her maybe it wasn't the right thing.

Tony can see her doubt, because like him she's probably never been without a job, without anything to pass the days. For him it had been basketball then the police force, NCIS. For her the IDF, Mossad then NCIS. They've both lived full lives and now here they are, with nothing to hold their focus week by week. Tony's suddenly realizing how hard this is going to be. But, he knows he's done right.

He doesn't quite know how to explain how Ziva is looking at him right now, hope maybe? Complete faith in whatever he is going to tell her?

He moves his hand from her forearm and slides in down until he slips his hand into hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze and her eyes follow the path of his hand. His hand warms her skin and makes her heart race at the movement.

"Hey" he says softly and her eyes drift up to meet his. Suddenly they are so open, her walls completely gone. Because the last two times he's said that word like that, it had been two of the most comforting moments she's ever shared with him.

"We did the right thing, what we did was for the best" he assures her quietly, and yes she needs this. She doesn't know why she suddenly doubts herself. Today has just been very difficult and maybe, just maybe, she needed to be here with _him_ to feel okay.

She looks down at their hands and her hand plays with his a little bit before she looks back up at him with a smile.

"For family" she whispers. And he nods in return because yes, this had all been about family. _They were all family._

She's smiling at him lightly and her hand isn't planning on letting go of his, but he just _knows_ deep down that she's still that little bit not sure about this.

"We are going to be okay, we will get through this" he tells her and he believes his words, and it seems as though she does too, especially at the way she looks at him now. He feels it when her hand suddenly lets go of his one and then he feels her hands wrap around his back and press into him, pulling him closer. He doesn't think for one second and he follows her in the movement and holds her close to his chest.

"We are not alone" she whispers against his neck and those simple words have him tightening his hands around her and his heart skipping. He knows she means all three of them, her, him and McGee, but saying it like _that_, in those words was so personal to the two of them. He knows they have had problems the last week with what happened while she was gone for her fathers funeral but for her to say _that_. It meant so much.

The unspoken words behind it, she did not feel alone because she knows she has him. And this time it is him who she will fall to, he is the one she will rely on to hold her on her feet and make her not feel alone. Because he is the only one she trusts like that and she will not be weak and slip up again. Because he deserves her not to.

"You will never be alone" he replies and his chest is suddenly doing all sorts of things to him, because maybe this confession was too much right now, but then again maybe it was needed right in this moment. Because they both needed to hear this, and now after all that has happened today and the last few months, they know without a doubt they will always be there for each other.

Through thick and thin they are in this together. Tony knows they still have a long journey ahead of them and this is only the beginning, but as long as he has her and she has him, maybe they will get through this alright after all.

And maybe for once in their life they could have a happy ending.

* * *

Love to hear your thoughts!


	2. Chapter 2

I am ecstatic at how many people have responded to this story and I do love you all for your kind words towards it! In return I give you another chapter! I loved writing this one so I do hope you enjoy how it turned out!

I will try as hard as I can to update as much as possible, because you are all fantastic!

Enjoy,

Hundan.

* * *

It's a beautiful Sunday and she's not stuck in a bright orange office, she's not stuck outside in the middle of nowhere and there's no dead body nearby. She's not even on call. She gave that all up and she suddenly understands what a weekend really means. And yeah, it feels _so_ good.

In the space of a week she has already caught up with a decent amount of her friends, some of which she hasn't seen in months. Now that she has all this free time on her hands she understands just how busy she used to be in her line of work. Sure she knew she was a busy woman who lived a very full life, but she hadn't realized how bad it had been. Freedom feels good, too good.

She went for coffee with Alana and Emma this morning and it was really good to catch up with them after so long. She hasn't seen Alana in a month and Emma in couple weeks, and that's a little sad considering they are her best friends. They are both upset over the news at what happened at work and both of the women think it sounds disastrous. They asked her what she was going to do now and Ziva had been completely honest with them and told them she didn't know.

All three of them didn't know at the moment, they had just been enjoying actually being able to have somewhat of a social life with their friends this last week. They were able to be normal for once. And yeah, normal felt good.

Tim got to actually spend some good quality time with his sister for the first time in a long time, because now that she was studying in a different state it was a little harder for him to go and see her.

And even though she has no job, right now as Ziva walks across the street towards the basketball courts she feels as though life is pretty comfortable.

She'd text Tony earlier and he said that he'd had a game on this afternoon, and she was welcome to come and watch if she liked. And yes, she very much did like the sound of that. She hasn't really seen him play sports before, she's only really seen him in action when they have done workouts together or did some sparring on an occasion. But she has yet to see him play _his_ game. The thing he almost went pro in if it hadn't of been for his knee.

She walks up to the cage around the court and smiled when her eyes find him in the middle of the court, fully focused on what he was doing. He was in a singlet and basketball shorts, something which was strange for her to see on a usual basis because she is so used to him in suits, but she likes him like this, all dressed down and in less clothing. And even if she can see how hot he is from the sweat on his singlet, she is still very attracted to the image in front of her.

He's calling out to some of the other guys, telling them plays and moves to do, and the people seem to listen. Tony knows what he is doing after all, this is his sport. She watches as he's passed the ball and he does some crazy looking move around another guy who approaches him before he lays the ball up and gets it in the hoop. There are a few cheers from his team and the handful of spectators that are watching, most of which are females and most likely wives or girlfriends of the men playing.

She would guess that most of the men playing right now are in their early thirties to early forties, and yes some of them are very fit and attractive. A few years ago Ziva would have been eyeing up the very strong and muscular ones, however these days for some reason her taste in men has changed. Sure she still likes to look at the very strong looking men with the biceps and pecks to die for, but personally she prefers the more normal looking man. One who is fit yes, but has a little more softness to him. She knows that her partner fits that very description and she won't deny to herself that yes, she likes to ogle her partner when she's given an opportunity, such as right now.

She contemplates going inside the cage and sitting over the other side of the court, but she decides on staying where she is. She doesn't tend to like people asking her a lot of personal questions, and if she goes over there right now she is bound to get some. Like whom she was here to watch? And then what is their relationship? Were they dating or are they married? She cannot deal with such questions like that when she hardly knows what to define their _thing_ as.

The other week they had used the word friendship, but they both knew in that moment that it was more than that, they just didn't have a label for what it is exactly. There is no sort of label for their relationship, and it's always been like that.

Watching Tony run up and down the court with way too much energy made her smile. She hadn't seen him carefree like this in a while, hadn't seen his face so relaxed and smiling so easily. She knows this break hasn't just been good for her, it has let him have space for the first time in years. He's worked under Gibbs for a long time now and that must do something to mess with your head a little, she loves the man but sometimes he's a bastard to work for when you try and have a personal life outside of work.

The amount of times she has been in the middle of a day off, or in the middle of the night fast asleep and she has been brought into work, she couldn't even count on all her fingers and toes. And yeah, she's relieved that she doesn't have to worry about that, that she can just stand here and watch Tony right now and not have a worry in the world thinking that her relaxing Sunday will be brought to an end.

It's like Tony feels her gaze then because after another point has been won by his team his head turns her way and he looks at her. When he sees her his face splits into a wide smile and he sends her a wave. His wave catches a few of the players' attention and she knows there are a handful of eyes on her right now, but she's not bothered. She just smiles back just as big and returns his wave.

She notices after he knows she is there watching his eyes look over at her every now and then, catching her gaze and smiling at her. There hasn't been a time when she has seen him smile at her this much, and she really likes it. She half expects him to start showing off his skills a little more, act like 'the man' as he would say just to impress her, but she's surprised when his game doesn't change. He's still really good at playing and he is probably the best on the court, but in no way does he show this off and act over the top.

She wonders if he doesn't do it because he realizes he doesn't need to impress her, because really he doesn't, she finds him quite impressive without him needing to show off. If this had been a few years ago she knows he would have shown off all his skills, peacocked as hard as he could just to impress her. But that is what she really likes about him these days, is that he is not like that anymore. He sort of knows where he stands with her attraction to him.

She stands there for a long time just watching and enjoying the sight of him playing, he is really good and she can see exactly how he had been almost taken into the professional league. When the game is finished all of the guys shake hands or share a little man-hug afterwards, because they must all be good friends. She watches as Tony talks to one of the guys for a little while and Ziva recognises him, it was Tony's friend Josh that she met at a football game Tony took her to seven years ago. She's seen Josh a few times since then, he's one of Tony's closest friends, if not his best friend.

Tony says something to Josh and then they both look over at her, Tony smiles softly and Josh smirks a little and sends her a wave, which she returns kindly. After that Tony walks over to where the females sit and he picks up a bag, a couple of the women laugh and she guess' Tony was being Tony and that he had made a cheeky comment of some sort to the women. He sends them a wave as he starts walking in her direction and they wave goodbye to him.

When he gets closer to her he looks up and smiles brightly at her. Like she had just made his day with her presence. He comes to stand right in front of her, the only thing between them is the metal cage and she is very aware of his palm touching her knuckles when his hand holds onto the cage with his hand right above hers.

"I didn't actually think you would seriously come" he states with a smile. She catches the little once over he gives her as he takes in her casual shorts and singlet that she has adorned on this hot summers day. He doesn't usually get to see her dressed like this very often, much like she doesn't get to see him like this. They used to work far too much.

"And give up the opportunity to see attractive men all sweaty and aggressive with each other, I don't think so" she says with a smirk, one which he returns in kind. So Ziva was in a playful mood today was she? He always loved a playful Ziva.

"Don't get too hopeful there Ziva, they are all unavailable" he grinned at her. It was true they all were, and he knows deep down she's not really on a man hunt right now, but he always loves playing with her. The smirk she shoots him back suddenly has his heart rate skipping a little, because she's giving him the elevator eyes at the same time and god, he can pretty much guess what she is about to say, and yeah, he likes it.

"Not all of them" she says, loving the way his gaze turns a little darker. Yep, she still has it in her to rack his brain and make him a little turned on.

Their heated gaze suddenly breaks apart as Josh walks pass and gives them a wolf whistle, because yeah, anyone watching right now could probably see the tension between them like it was a bright pink elephant standing there talking perfect English. And no, she does not care what people think about it, because at this point she is too happy to care. Being away from work has her carefree and she's able to suddenly enjoy things so much more. And Tony, he really doesn't seem to mind either.

Tony rolls his eyes at Josh before looking back at Ziva and smiling.

"This place is making me crazy! I need to break out of here before the warden comes and finds me talking to the pretty woman" he acts out like he's stuck behind prison bars and his little routine suddenly has her laughing. Sometimes she wonders how they can change the mood of a conversation so quickly.

"Tony, are you really quoting some prison movie to me right now?" she chuckles with a smile. He grins at her.

"Nope, that one is straight DiNozzo improv" he tells her and the answer has her laughing even more. Because yeah, sometimes he's a little adorable. He chuckles back at her because he cannot help himself and he lets go of the cage and walks out the door, making his way over to her.

"How was your coffee date with Alana and Emma this morning?" he asks her and when he gets to her she falls easily into step next to him as they walk down the pavement. The one thing she likes best about her relationship with Tony, is how smooth it can be. One minute they can be all flirty, then joking around, then the next minute it's casually back to the comfortable _them_ where they talk about anything. If there is one thing she loves most about them, it's this.

"It was good, I do not get to see them as often as I would like to" she explains. They were very good friends and she knows they don't like her work hours much because they like spending time with her too.

"Well maybe you can see them as often as you want to now" he sends her a smile, and yes he is right, she can.

Tony was all smiles this morning and a lot more than she is used to and that is saying something. She doesn't know what it was, maybe it was spending so much time with his friends in a long while, maybe it was the fact he had been stress free for a week because he didn't have to face dead bodies, murderers and long draining hours.

Whatever it was, she liked it. She liked when he smiled because his smile had always been unique, and most of the time his smile made her want to smile.

"I guess I could" she smiles in return. She likes the idea of that, being able to go out with the girls for a few drinks at the bar, or to the movies, or go to a nice dinner. And that she could do all of that and not have to worry about getting called into work. He smiles at her more, like he's reading her mind right now and that it just makes him happy, knowing she's happy.

"You are very happy today" she tells him what she has observed this afternoon. His smile doesn't stop as they walk up to his car and she grins at the new 1968 mustang that he has replaced his Cadillac with. And yeah she likes the black.

"What's there not to be happy about? I'm not working on my Sunday and I am not going to get called in either" his face continues to be very happy and he opens his trunk and places his sport bag away in there. He closes the trunk and leans on it as he looks at her.

"Where's your car?" He asks. The look she gives him tells him what he wants to know without her saying a word.

"I walked" she says aloud even though she knows he knew from her look what her answer was going to be "It's a nice day out, thought it would be good for me" she smiles and he doubts she needed it, she is one very fit woman who looks after her health quite well. Running was relaxing for her, for him it was more of a chore but he did it every now and then to keep a little fit.

He was going to offer to give her a ride home or something but he realises he's not done spending time with her today, and he doubts she will turn the offer down to spend some more time with him. She liked to spend a lot more time with him these days.

"You want to come over for dinner?" He asks. It's not the first time they've had dinner together and he doubts it will be the last. He likes having dinner with his best friend. The smile she sends him is the best one he's seen all day from her.

"Have you finally got food in your apartment?" She asks with a knowing look. She knows he doesn't keep his cupboards stocked with much food and his fridge is normally empty except for some beer, milk, Ice cream and maybe cold pizza if you are lucky. He has a bad habit of takeout and he needs to change that.

He's shakes his head guiltily.

"Well how about you shower and change and then we can go to mine? Because I feel like a home cooked meal tonight" now that she has the time to really cook and she's not always tired, she cannot get enough of it. She'd picked up a little bit of a habit of eating too much takeout because of her busy job, and Tony, and she wants to get rid of that habit. And there's no better time to start.

His eyes light up at her offer, she knows how much he likes her cooking.

"That sounds like an offer I cannot deny" he smiles at her and sends her a little wink. Her cooking was to die for and he doesn't get to have the privilege to have it very often, so there is no way he is turning her down. She chuckles at his playfulness and they both climb into his mustang and he turns the ignition over and pulls out from the curb.

"How did you get your insurance guy to cover you on this very nice new car?" She asks him, because she is very curious. She liked his blue mustang but she thinks she likes the black a lot better.

"Apparently he got a call from someone very important and my past two cars that I _apparently _totalled, were over looked" Tony said with a very grateful smile. He was so glad it had sorted out, because none of the times his cars have been ruined have ever been his fault. Well maybe when he crashed his Dad's car when he was seventeen, but that one doesn't count.

"Gibbs?" She guessed and Tony shook his head.

"Vance" he replied and she was a little surprised at that. It didn't sound like something Vance would go out of his way to do, but then again Tony was a good agent and did a lot for NCIS, including sacrifice two of his cars. It was about time he got something in return for being the good reliable agent he used to be.

* * *

When they got to his apartment he'd gone to the bathroom to have a shower and told her to make herself at home. It's strange that he would say that, be this comfortable with her in his home when less than a year ago no one had been in his home because he was scared at opening it up to people, because it's _his space_. And now here he is so comfortable with her making herself at home in his space.

When she first came to his apartment she hadn't really taken it in that much, she had too many other things on her mind then. But these last couple of times she's let herself take in every little detail of his home. Like the picture of him and his mother, the ukulele, the piano, the way he keeps his home so tidy and it is always so well looked after. It did surprise her a little because over the years she always pictured his apartment being messy, like he was on occasion in the office.

And coming into his home and seeing all the things she does she knows there is a lot more to Tony than meets the eye and she's always known that and this just proves it all. She knows about his love of movies but only lately has she come to know about his passion for music, and she likes that about him because she loves music, especially the piano. She and Tali used to play the piano together and they are some of her most fond memories with Tali. Tali was a very talented musician at such a young age.

She cannot help herself when she finds herself at his piano and she begins to lift up the fall board off the keys. She runs her fingers along the keys softly and she finds herself smiling. She used to play with Tali for hours on end and she hadn't touched a piano since Tali passed away until she came here to America and brought herself one, it was nowhere near as nice as Tony's one though.

His piano is beautiful and she knows it must have been pricy, it just shows how deep his passion for the instrument runs.

Her thumb slowly pressed down on a key and the chime from the cord rung out in the quiet of the apartment. The only other thing that could be heard in his apartment right now was the stream of water from the shower.

She finds herself pressing another key, followed by another and another. She's been long out of practice for a few years because she only had her piano a few months, she was always too busy at work so she sold it. But the memory of her fingers playing along the keys years ago feels so familiar that it's coming almost natural to her. She doesn't think she could tell you what note she is playing, she doesn't remember that much, but the feel of it she could remember from when she was very young. Her hands dance across the keys softly and she starts to play something from her memory that just comes to her and it flows from her easier than she thought it would.

She doesn't know how long she sits there and plays and smiles as she basks in the memory of her younger sister, but it must have been a while. She and Tali used to play this song together.

"You're really good" she hears Tony's voice over the sounds of the piano and suddenly her hands stop what they are doing and she looks at him, deer in headlights. Because she hadn't meant to be nosy and play with his piano, he might not like people playing with his instruments. But when she looks at him standing there leaning against the doorframe smiling at her in his clean jeans and warm sweater with still damp hair she thinks maybe he's not upset that she just helped herself to his piano.

"Don't stop" he smiles some more and she just looks at him unsure. She's never played in front of anyone except for Tali and her family. No one that is alive has ever heard her play before. She weighs it up and she doesn't really know if she has it in her to play in front of someone, because this was such a personal thing to her, more than just playing music. However this was _Tony_, and if she was going to share this with anyone it would be him.

She turns back to look down at the keys and she hesitates for a second but then she places her hands back on the white and black ladder and she slowly starts playing again. She closes her eyes and tries to focus on the way the keys felt under her fingertips and the way the sound that she was making had her relaxing and taking in the personal moment. She tried not to focus on Tony when she heard his soft steps come closer towards her.

She opened her eyes when she felt him sit on the small bench chair next to her, his shoulder and hip pressed to hers, so intimately. Her fingers slowed down and she lost full focus on the song she was playing for a moment as she lifted her eyes and caught his gaze. He was looking at her so softly right in this moment, and he wasn't holding anything back in his gaze right now. It had her heart missing a beat and her fingers missing a note.

He seemed to notice the missing note and he looked down and watched her hands slowly play the song. And for a moment that was all he did, sit close to her and watch her play. She thought that maybe that was all it was going to be, she would play and he would watch her. But no, when his hands suddenly lifted above the keys and he watched her hands with such focus, she could tell he was trying to follow her notes, count the music until the perfect moment it would be for him to join. And she knew exactly what he was doing because Tali used to do this to her all the time.

As she played the next section of notes in the song his fingers joined in the dance. And yes, he seemed to know this song because he didn't miss a single note. She couldn't help it as she played when her eyes drifted across to watch his long strong fingers play out the tune that she had started. She'd never seen him like this before, never seen this side of him. And really, it made her warm inside watching him. Because there is so much more to him than what he lets people see.

There is so much talent within him.

They continue to play the song and it's one she knows far too well so when her attention loses a little focus on what keys to play it was okay. And when her eyes find his watching her so closely when she looks up, she guesses that it's a song he knows very well too. He smiles at her softly in a way that makes her heart go warm and she doesn't think she has ever shared a more personal moment with the man in front of her. But what she doesn't realize is it is about to get a lot more intimate than she ever thought it would.

His left hand stops playing and she feels it when he places it on the seat on the other side of her hip. She feels the way his body gets closer to hers, so close that her breath suddenly catches because that's his chest warm against the back of her shoulder right now. And god, this was coming into a somewhat dangerous territory but she really couldn't care less right in this moment, because she was happy and he was the one making her happy.

His right hand is still playing along with her two but she watches as it starts to travel across the notes and closer to hers, bringing the sound closer together in a way that makes the song all that more beautiful. But he doesn't stop, his hand gets closer and closer to hers until his fingers are touching hers and his hand has suddenly taken place of where her right one is, and he's playing along in harmony with her left so perfectly it was as though they were joined somehow. And maybe they were, sometimes she wondered if their thoughts were on some sort of wavelength together.

She doesn't know what is happening or what he is really doing but she is going along with it, because it's making her heart tight. Her right hand suddenly finds itself touching his wrist and then she slides it down until her fingers lie above his and move in sync with the way his fingers dance up and down along the notes.

She didn't know where all this had come from but it was so goddamn intimate and it had her wanting more. She can feel his breath warm against her neck, so close that she is sure his lips are inches from touching her skin and it has gooseflesh erupting on her skin at the feel. She wonders if he can see it or if he is paying too much attention elsewhere to notice.

She turns her head slowly to look at him, her fingers still playing the notes and she can feel his beneath her right one continuing along with her. Her heart jumps as she realizes just how close he is right now and that he was looking right at her.

His eyes held a sparkle to them and she doesn't think she's ever seen his eyes look this intoxicatingly green before. She cannot stop staring. She is also very aware that if she were to lean that little bit closer right now her lips would touch his and they would share something else so intimate. But she doesn't.

Her hand slowly stops on the keys because she is much too distracted now and she feels his right one do the same when he realizes she's stopped. Her hand stays resting on his when it falls to his knee and she finds her fingers intertwining with his because she has never shared a duet with anyone but Tali on the piano and for the first time when she had she had shared it with the right person. She doesn't know if he truly understands just how much more this moment had meant to her.

"Thank you" she says quietly to him, because she felt the need she had to. She was expecting him to be confused but he got it, somehow. He understood. She could tell by the soft smile he gave her and then when his fingers gripped onto hers a little more.

"You didn't tell me you were _that_ good" he smiles at her. Because yeah, she was really good.

"Neither did you" she returns softly matching his smile. Because he was too.

She cannot take her eyes from his and she doesn't know why. They are so close right now and she knows she never wants it to stop, but she knows it will. Because they are in a confusing part in their relationship and if they didn't break away soon it might lead to things that they are maybe not quite ready to face yet. _Maybe. _

They stare at each other for a quiet moment and it isn't until Tony suddenly looks down at their hands on his lap that he speaks up.

"We should go get dinner started, before it gets too late" he says looking down at their hands and he runs his thumb along her finger softly. She knows he is trying to get them to continue on with the night without anything going too far. And she is grateful for him doing that. Because tonight she is not sure she is ready for another step between them, that little piano impromptu duet had been quite a big one for her.

"Yes, I don't want you to start nagging me while I am cooking that you are hungry" she smiles at him. She gets him, she understands the way he works, and he loves that about her. He gives her a big smile in return and he stands and lifts her to her feet by his hand in hers.

"We should do this more often" he says because he wants to drag out holding her hand for a short moment longer. And he would also like to do this again, he wants her to know that. Her smile in return is one he very much likes, it's promising.

"Well we do have the time now" she points out before giving his hand one last squeeze before she lets it go. Her hand suddenly loses a lot of warmth, but maybe one day soon it will get that warmth from his again.

And she is right, they do have the time now. They have the time to do a lot of things and if they have begun to open up and get close like this as early as they have since leaving their jobs maybe it had been their work that had held them back all this time. That they were too scared to lose their partnership at work that they weren't quite ready to risk it all for love, because their partnership is their foundation. And now that they were free of that and they didn't have the worry of losing that partnership, it was just so easy to let go to your true feelings and let yourself be happy.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello all, I am here again to give to you the next instalment in this story as my muses have been very good on this one! I hope you enjoy as always and thank you to everyone who reviewed and added to your favourite list last chapter, I really to appreciate the support you guys give to my writing!

Hundan.

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They haven't really discussed what happened the other day, and she likes it how it is. She doesn't feel like they need to talk about the intimate moment they share because it just felt so right, there was no need to justify it or why it happened. Deep down they sort of know exactly why it happened, because feelings ran deep, even if they denied that to themselves a little.

Ziva knows she has feelings for her partner and that there is something he feels about her, but they have never admitted such things to each other. She's not sure if they ever will, but one day she hopes they may. They seem to be going in the direction of doing so a lot more lately.

She'd taken Tony grocery shopping a few hours ago because she had decided that his cupboards and his fridge need to be filled for once. He hadn't denied her offer to take him on the biggest shopping experience for food he'd ever been on, and he didn't realize that he would actually enjoy shopping for food until he went with her. But he knows it wasn't the purchase of food that had him enjoying the moment, it had been _her_.

He'd tried to by the easiest meals possible but she had denied him every time, because microwave meals are not real meals and he needs to stop being lazy. He had smiled at her every time because she just brings that out in him. When he had complained that he is not necessarily the best cook in the world, she had offered to teach him a thing or two in the kitchen. And yeah, he really liked the sound of that. It meant he would finally learn how to cook something decent, also that he would get to have more of her cooked meals, _and_ that he got to spend more time with her.

It seemed like shopping for food could only end up being good for him in all sorts of ways.

He doesn't know where to put all these groceries that they brought but Ziva seems to know exactly where to place them. His cupboards and fridge are fuller than they ever have been, thanks to her. And maybe this was a time to start changing the way he lived, like his eating habits for example. However that wasn't the only thing in his life that he wanted to change. One of the things he wants to change is his relationship with her, but that's a slow process that he is currently working on achieving.

She places the last of his shopping in the fridge and she turns to look at him, where she finds him smiling at her.

"What?" she chuckles lightly, because his smile is heavy on her and it was there for a reason. It amuses her slightly, like he always seems to do.

"You taking me shopping and filling my apartment with all this food, it's kind of adorable" he admits, and that comment draws another chuckle from her.

"Adorable?" she asks, laughing. Because she doesn't often get referred to being that type of nature. But trust Tony to think so.

"You can deny it all you want ninja woman, I see it" he grins at her. Because yeah, he knows deep down how caring and adorable she really can be, you just have to be a very lucky individual to see it. She rolls her eyes at him playfully and it makes him smile even more, because he can see her trying to hide the grin on her face right now. He makes her smile and he's not going to forget the fact he knows he does. He loves the fact that he does that to her.

He watches her for a moment, and he cannot help but think how at home she looks in his home. It's like she belongs there, and maybe one day she truly will. He can only hope. He's had something on his mind ever since his friend Josh had told him some very good news, and Tony had contemplated asking her for quite a few weeks now. And it seems like the right moment to ask what he wanted to right in this second.

"Ziva?" he says her name softly, and she catches onto his tone right away.

"Yeah?" she replies and she turns a gentle smile his way. She can tell he is about to say something a little more serious to her, a little more important. And she anticipated it with a sudden warmth in her chest.

"You know Josh right?" he asks, and he knows she does, he's just working himself into the discussion he wants to have with her. She nods at him slowly with a smile, because of course she does, and it was silly of him to ask. It makes him chuckle lightly.

"Well he and Sophie are getting married at the end of the year, he proposed to her a couple months ago" Tony starts and he watches as Ziva's face turns into a touched smile, because when she met Sophie for the first time she had told Tony that evening that she had a feeling she and Josh were destined for each other. And that's not a comment that one ninja ass kicking Ziva David would say light heartedly.

"And they are having the engagement party next weekend. I was just wondering…" this is the point where he looks at her with that softness in his eyes and he opens his heart. And yes she noticed it when he did "If you would like to come along with me? Josh said I could bring someone, and I guess you were the only one I would consider asking to come if I did take someone" he speaks honestly from the heart. He was almost going to beat around the bush and say because she already knew Josh and Sophie she should be the one he takes. But no, she meant more than that, and he wanted her to know that.

Things between them were going somewhere slowly, and he liked it. He didn't want it to stop. This was just another little step at what he hoped would be the inevitable between them. Her smile grows larger than he thought it could.

"I would really like that" she says honestly. She knows going to something like this with him meant something a little more than friendship, but she liked that thought. So what if they didn't know exactly what it was they had, they could go to this together. And if they get asked if they are a couple she guesses they will just fight that battle when it comes to them.

And it was his smile that grew this time.

* * *

She laughs at his joke and pokes her foot into the side of his thigh when he laughs back at her. He's sitting at the end of his couch and she has pretty much dominated the whole thing by having her legs spread out along the black leather while she faces him. He's half watching a football game, however she keeps stealing his attention away from the sport on screen. She wasn't watching the game, she was merely just enjoying spending time with him in his company. She could do this every day of her life and not get tired of it.

Because being surrounded by him was different, it gave her this warm feeling inside. It gave her a sense of somewhere where she belongs.

"Why don't you just be quiet and watch your football game that you had been so keen on watching" she says with a chuckle as she pushes her foot into his leg again for more empathises. He rolls his eyes at her and blatantly turns his head and stares at the television, not moving one bit. This makes her laugh again because she knows he is not really paying _that _much attention to the game right now, he is just playing with her.

"Admit it" he suddenly says, not taking his eyes off the screen because his act is still in play, however she can see the big grin on his face from where she is sitting.

"Admit what?" she chuckles. This is when his face leaves the television again because he's given up on the act, he's not actually that interested in the game even though it is a pretty important one for his team, he would much rather look at her smiling anyways.

"That I am funny" he states. And yes he sure is, but she is not going to let him win so easily by telling him, no way. He'd have to pay her good money if he wants her to let him win that easy. He sees that she is playing the hard ball, she is not giving in without a fight. He would say he was surprised but he's not, he knows her too well.

He reaches out and pokes her big toe through her socks. She wriggles her toes and laughs a little at the touch.

"Come on! I make you laugh all the time!" he states, like her not agreeing is incredulous. However she can see the smirk in his eyes.

"I laugh because you are full of nonsense" she lied, well it was half true. Yes, he was funny, but half of the time she laughed just because he could be so silly sometimes that it just made her laugh. She loves how he makes her laugh so much.

"You are a bad liar" he smirked at her. Again his finger touched her toe. She didn't know why he kept touching her feet, normally she wasn't fond of people touching them but when he did it, she actually didn't mind.

"I am a very good liar actually" she chuckled in return and yeah, he knows that she is. She's a trained assassin for crying out loud. However he knows she is not very good at lying to him, most of the time he sees through it.

"Yes you are, but I happen to have a secret government issue Ziva David lie detector, so not much of that sneaky ninja gets past me" he said and he beamed a smile at her. She was laughing again, because simply as that he just makes her happy like this. He jokes and says silly things when the mood is light, and when he needs to he's caring and he opens up his heart to her. Why she deserved him in her life she doesn't know, all she knows is she is lucky to have him there to brighten up her day.

"I admit it" she says as her laughter dies down and he suddenly looks at her all excited like a kid in a candy store.

"You admit what?" he grins, because he wants her to say it, out loud. But she's still not done playing with him.

"I admit that you are…" dramatic pause just to watch him anticipate her saying it, god his reaction is going to be good "Less funny then I am" she says and his grin drops. She suddenly laughs because his reaction had been so precious. Suddenly as she laughs a pillow hits her in the face. She throws it right back at him as he tries to mock being hurt by her comment. She knows he really is not, he is just toying with her as much as she is with him.

She stares at him for a short moment, just smiles at him as he sits there and smiles right back at her. And for once she's going to give into him.

"Okay, okay. Yes Tony, you are a very funny man" she admits and his face suddenly becomes so soft at her comment, because it was from the heart and he could tell it was. His hand touches her again and she feels it when he rests it on top of her foot. And yes, that is his thumb moving back and forth in a soft caress right now. She couldn't help but think how much of a _couple thing _that was.

"It's good that I am" he says quietly and she really wonders what he means by that.

"Why is that?" she smiles softly at him. She almost feels like closing her eyes and humming in agreement when she feels his hand touch the bare skin on her ankle because he was moving his hand a little higher. His thumb was now running back and forth over the smooth skin on her ankle.

"Because I get to see your beautiful smile more often" he admits, right from deep down in his heart. Lately he had really been getting right into telling her very personal things, and yeah, she liked it. She liked what it did to them, she liked that it made their relationship so much more closer every time a whisper of a personal feeling was revealed.

No one has ever told her she has a beautiful smile before, not once has anyone ever told her such a thing. Was it normal that guys tell people that? Because she surely wasn't one of those woman that received such a comment. But hey, she was in the Army and then she was an assassin, it's not like you would go around telling those sorts of woman that they had a beautiful smile, they might kick your ass if they thought you were lying to them just so you could bed them.

But she wouldn't kick Tony's ass, because his eyes were honest and to tell the truth she really liked been told that. She liked been complimented like this, especially from him.

She suddenly moves and he watches her carefully, wondering what it is she is going to do right now after he made such a personal comment. He hopes he didn't push it too far, he hopes she doesn't have a flight response right now.

However his hand doesn't move from her ankle because she's not moving away from him, she's coming closer. She sits up and moves closer to him on the couch and she rests her chin on her propped up knees for a short moment and just smiles at him before she lifts her hand and he closes his eyes for a brief moment when her hand runs in to the side of his hair.

His hand slides higher up her leg and holds onto her calf when he opens his eyes and stares right at her. She's staring at him with a look of… possible adoration in her eyes. He doesn't get that look from her, he doesn't think he ever has. If he has he's missed catching her give it to him, because she'd never quite looked at him like this before. But he liked it, and he wanted more of it.

Her hand is still in his hair, softly playing with the short sandy brown locks, and he wonders if she's going to say anything or if she's just going to look at him like that and play with his hair. Either way, he doesn't mind what she does. He's quite comfortable with what she is giving him right now because she is looking at him like _that _and she is touching him quite intimately.

"I would smile for you every day if that's what it takes to make you happy in life" she says softly and she gives him just that, a smile. And she's honest to her word, because seeing her partner happy was what made her happy. She only wanted the best in life for him, because he deserved it. He's given so much over the years to his friends, family, and people he doesn't even know. He's sacrificed his life being happy for the good of others. He always put anyone else's needs before his own, but maybe now it was time to change things and he should put himself first when it comes to making life a happy thing.

What makes him happy about her comment the most was the fact she just offered to make him smile every single day if she had to, and that meant she would not leave his life until the day he died. And he liked the sound of her never leaving him, because he wanted her to be in his life forever.

"Nothing else could make me happier" he said. Because nothing else does make him happier than her. Sure she gets on his nerves from time to time and they can argue with each other like they have started the third world war, but at the end of the day he loves her and he hopes to god that she loves him the same in return. Because she makes him so happy, and he's never tried hard to make his life happy, only tried to make everyone else's life happy. But if making her happy made him happy, he thinks he's found his match in life.

And he's pretty sure he has.

When her phone suddenly starts ringing she's still smiling at him, because she holds onto breaking their moment for a few seconds longer. Her hand slips from his hair when she leans over to his little coffee table to grab her phone and he misses the touch more than he thought he would. When she has her phone she leans back in close to him and rests her head against the back of the couch as she smiles at him and answers her phone.

"David" she answers. Because its habit, and that habit makes him smile because he knows he still answers his phone the exact same way.

"Ziva, hey, it's Emma" her friend answers. And Ziva smiles a little more, because she really loves hearing from her friends. It means they do not forget her, and for years she has always been worried that they will just forget about her because of how busy at work she always was, and they would give up on inviting her out. However the few good friends she has now, they are the ones that held on and didn't give up on her. And she loves them for that.

"Hi Emma, how are you today?" she asks and she wonders if her friend can hear how happy her voice is today. Because right now she is in a very good mood. And she's watching the man closely right now who was at fault for that mood and he's watching her very carefully and the smile he has set on her doesn't waver from his face. She loves it when he smiles at her like that, for no real reason but he just aims it at her and looks at her like no one else could make him move his gaze away right in that minute because it was so stuck on her.

"I am great. Hey, you're still on for tonight right?" Emma asks and Ziva closes her eyes and thinks for a minute trying to remember what is happening tonight. Now that she doesn't work she finds herself confused with what day it is. She feels when Tony's hand moves on her leg, and the movement is so relaxing and soft, the way he massages her muscles like that without even noticing that she's tempted just to close her eyes and forget her phone call. However she doesn't.

"Yes, Murphy's at seven, right?" Ziva confirmed, making sure she got tonight's event correct. She knows she had already said yes to going out with the girls tonight so she cannot turn them down just because she might be inclined to stay here longer with Tony. However when she looks back up at Tony he doesn't seem angry with her that she has other plans tonight, because he knows exactly what Murphy's is and if she is talking to Emma he can just about guess that they have some sort of girly evening planned. And he liked it when she went out with her girlfriends, because she always had fun with them and Ziva having a good time was something he liked to know was happing in the world.

"Yeah, that's right. Did you want to get a ride in with me? Sam is taking me and he'll pick us up later too" Emma asked. Sam was Emma's husband, Ziva really liked Sam. They two of them were perfect together.

"Yes, I would like that very much, thank you" Ziva replied and Tony suddenly leant forward and rested his head on her knees. The look he gave her right before he did it she knew very well, he was about to play with her. She chuckles at the act and tries to push his head off her knees.

"Ziva?" Emma asks, because she was confused to the chuckle her friend just gave which was completely out of context. Tony started rolling his head about and making little dinosaur noises. And she had to laugh again.

"Sorry" she chuckled "Give me a sec to deal with this idiot" she told Emma and Ziva pushed his head again "Tony stop it, I'm on the phone" she laughed. He stopped and rested his chin on her knees and looked up at her with puppy eyes, she rolled her eyes but smiled at him.

"I apologize about that. What time will you pick me up?" Ziva goes right back into the conversation.

"About half six" her friend replied and Ziva could hear a suddenly big smirk on her friends face and she knew Emma wasn't finished with her yet "Tony huh?" she added, Ziva can picture her friend waggling her eyebrows at her right now. For years Emma has always told Ziva to just get on with it when it came to Tony, because her best friend knew something was there between the two, however stubborn and in denial the two seemed to be. Ziva knows Emma will be giving her another Tony talk this evening now, even though she's had more than a million of them already.

And she cannot help it when she suddenly runs her hand into the side of Tony's hair again, because he looks a little cute looking up at her like that with his chin on her knees, and she is still aware of his hand on her leg still moving about. She loves it when he touches her like that, and she cannot help but touch him sometimes too. He closes his eyes at her touch, because yeah, her playing with his hair he cannot get enough of.

They were starting to get really close lately and touching a lot more than they should. But who was around to police them and stop it from happening? No one. They couldn't care if this all changed their relationship, because maybe they were ready to move forward.

"I will see you then. I'll talk to you later" Ziva replied, the end of her comment was aimed at Emma asking about Tony. Because she couldn't well have _that_ conversation right now when Tony was simply right there. That could turn out dangerous, especially with how in depth Emma always went with her questions about her partner.

"Give him a kiss for me and tell him I say hi" Emma stated, Ziva just rolled her eyes at the woman. She was always trying to play cupid for her and Tony, not that Tony had any idea of course.

"Goodbye Emma" Ziva chuckled, trying to stop this conversation before the woman continued it. Just as Emma bid her a goodbye she heard the smart little comment she added about not being late because of beautiful-baby-making-sex with Tony. That had brought another laugh out of Ziva as she hung up. Her friend really was going to grill her tonight. Emma knows that nothing is really going on yet, but she always hopes for that to change. And when Ziva says always, she means _all the goddamn time_. It doesn't annoy Ziva though, she kind of… likes it. She finds that she likes to talk about Tony.

When she laughs Tony opens his eyes and looks at her and he smiles when he sees her off the phone and smiling at him.

"I guess you have to go now" he says, his voice is a little sad yes, but he's not truly hurt by the fact she is leaving him.

"Soon" Ziva replies, her fingers playing with his hair still.

"Ziva it's already five, I know you have to get all dressed up and pretty, not that you need it I mean you could go wearing what you are in and still look just as nice" he said, his comment serious even though it was a light hearted one. He thought she looked beautiful in whatever she wore, whether it is sweatpants and a singlet, the shorts and a t-shirt she now wore or all dressed up in a nice dress with her hair done perfect. He was beautiful to him no matter what.

She smiles at him at the comment, and the fact her knows her so well. She really did need to leave like almost now if she was going to shower, do her hair and make-up and find what she is wearing all in the space of an hour by the time she drives home.

She doesn't know where it comes from but she finds herself leaning forward and placing a very soft and maybe longer than considered normal, kiss to his forehead.

"I will come see you tomorrow" she promises. Because lately she had found herself spending time with him most days. She would think not working with him would be good and have her wanting to spend less time with him because she used to spend so many hours in his company but she finds herself spending most hours with him. And she never does get bored of him.

"I would like that" he states as he slowly sits up, her hand letting go of its place in his hair and his hand lets go of its hold on her leg. The fact that she had just kissed him on the forehead like that had meant a lot. And he couldn't get over the touch, he wonders if this was how she felt when he kissed her forehead?

She smiles at him as she gets to her feet and slips on her shoes that are at the end of his couch.

"Don't drink too much" he suddenly smirks and sends her a wink. And she laughs again, because it's just something he does to her.

"I can handle my alcohol thank you" she shoots back and she loves the smile he gives back in return. She grabs her keys from the table and he watches as she walks to the door, and she sends him one more smile before opening it.

"Enjoy the rest of your very important game" she pokes fun at him, because he'd said how important it was but they both know he has paid little to almost no attention to it.

"Enjoy your night out with the girls" he returns and she sends him a little wave before she walks out the door. When she closes it behind her he turns back and looks at the television and lets out a long breath. Sometimes she does things to him that he cannot really understand, she just seems to make his heart tight and him so happy so easily, and he cannot help but let her do it because he loves the feeling it gives him.

He loves how she makes him feel so loved, because since he was younger all he has searched for is the right love for him, and by god he has got into a lot of trouble looking for it in all the wrong places. However he thinks he has found it, in the one place that he had no intention of finding it in the beginning because she had intimidated him to no end. He never thought they would come this far when he first met her, he never thought when he saw her for the first time that she would eventually be the woman he fell in love with. The woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with, because she makes him whole.


	4. Chapter 4

I had a very busy week this week, but I managed to get this one out this morning on my first day off work in a long while. I really hope you enjoy and all of your comments continue to bring up my passion for writing this story, so thank you all for that.

Hundan.

* * *

Ziva David cannot believe herself. That when she is out with all her very good girlfriends as she is finishing her meal, all she can think of is that Tony would have really liked what she just ate and that she will have to cook it for him one night. Because that, and Ziva suddenly realizes, is such a goddamn domestic thought. But she cannot help but think it and even though it's a little scary, she actually likes that she thinks that. They are advancing to something more than friendship and she can just feel it deep in her bones.

"Another round ladies?" Jaz asks the table. Ziva had met Jasmine through Alana a few years ago and Ziva had automatically liked the woman's tough rock look and comical personality. She was a bit of a hard ass sometimes, but that is something Ziva also liked about the woman a lot. And the fact that in her profession as a vehicle mechanic she was surrounded by a lot of males, like Ziva was in her job. It all just made Jaz more of an appealing person for Ziva to get along with, they had a lot in common surprisingly.

"Jasmine, this is a nice night out, we are not getting shitfaced drunk like last time" Alana replied and the women at the table chuckled. Especially when Jaz gave her an evil look.

"Alana I told you never to call me that! You know how much I hate my name!" she exclaimed. Ziva chuckled, when she first met Jaz Alana had introduced her as Jasmine and Jaz had said much the same thing as she just did to the woman right now.

"I only call you that when you are starting trouble" Alana smiled at her good friend. Sometimes Ziva wondered how Jaz and Alana, who is almost the total opposite of her, got along so well. However she loved how they did.

"No you don't, you call me it all the time" Jaz rolled her eyes but smiled at her friend before announcing she was getting another round regardless to what Alana thought.

There were six women including her out tonight, and Ziva got along with all of them so well. This was her favourite group of women to spend time with.

There was Emma, one of Ziva's best friends. The dedicated nurse with the adorable husband Sam, and the one woman who is her number one Tony cheerleader. So far she hasn't brought the up Tony talk, but Ziva knows it is coming at some point tonight. Then there is Alana, the hard ass lawyer. And even though Ziva doesn't trust lawyers, Alana is the only one she does. Alana also has a husband who is one of the local fire fighters, James. And yeah Ziva knows her two best friends have very good and happy lives, they are both married with good jobs, and she always sees them both as idols to where her life might be one day. Happy with a good job and married.

Then there is Jodie, the only one not drinking tonight because she is in her third month of pregnancy with her second child to her husband Nick. Their eldest is four now and he is a very smart boy for his age. Jodie is an interior designer and Ziva absolutely loves her house, she is very good at what she does when it comes to design. And there's Sarah who is the one person Ziva thinks is the strongest most dedicated woman she has met, because Sarah is the best and most confident single mother Ziva has ever come to know. Her son is now sixteen because Sarah had him at a very young age, only when she was seventeen, and her boyfriend at the time wanted nothing to do with it. But Sarah does very well, her son is healthy, smart and very talented at basketball, and while she raised him she managed to become a qualified and very good preschool teacher.

And Jaz, who explains her own relationship status as 'likes to be single and ready to mingle'. Jaz is a little crazy sometimes but Ziva loves that crazy in her, and all the women at this table love that crazy part Jaz brings to the group. You've always got to have at least one crazy to have a good group of friends. It's like the glue.

She really does love this group of friends with all her heart and she's been through a lot as a person, and quite a few times these women are the reason she got through it. She knows she can rely on Tony with anything but they have had times in their relationship when they were very angry at each other so talking to him didn't work. And sometimes there are things she just needs to talk to her female friends about, and when it concerns Tony himself she can't exactly take that conversation to Abby. Realistically Ziva is quite personal when it comes to Tony, and these girls are really the only ones who she shares that with because she trusts them with it, and they don't exactly talk to Tony often. So it's always worked well.

Just as Jaz arrives back with shots and a cocktail for everyone (soda for Jodie of course and no shot) Emma decided that it was time to bring up the conversation of Tony that had been impending all night.

"So Ziva, anything you want to tell us regarding Tony lately?" Emma asks, and like she pictured on the phone earlier her friend waggled her eyebrows at her. Ziva lifted her drink to her mouth as she tried to hide the smile on her face.

"No" she lied and the looks she got from the whole table seemed to catch the lie.

"You have been rather happy lately and I doubt it is all because of the fact you have a lot of free time instead if working 24/7" Jodie pointed out. And you cannot argue with the sober pregnant woman. They all know about the situation with her job of course, she cannot keep such a thing from her closest friends.

She put her drink down on the table and they all looked at her with grins.

"Oh my god did you finally have sex with him?" Jaz asks, a little too excited. Only Jaz, Alana and Emma have met him before however all the women know him and have seen pictures.

"No I did not!" Ziva chuckles. However she's not going to admit that she is still waiting patiently for the day she does, because she has a feeling that it will one day. And she has fantasied about it way too much to be considered healthy.

"Are you sure? I mean you are almost glowing" Jaz accused while she smirked. Ziva suddenly wonders why Emma is considered the head cheerleader of her thing with Tony, Jaz is currently almost stealing her title.

"My glow has nothing to do with sex, even if I do actually have a glow" she laughed as she tossed back her shot. The liquid burnt her throat but it was really good, slightly pineapple flavoured.

"Was it what he was doing to you while I was on the phone to you earlier?" Emma asked with a knowing smirk and a wink before she threw back her own shot.

"What was he doing, huh?" Sarah who sat next to her nudged her with her elbow and waggled her eyebrows. Everyone was on her case now and she knows these women are all persistent and will not give up until they find out the juicy gossip about their friend.

"It was nothing okay?" she rolled her eyes but laughed.

"What was it?" Alana whispered, like it was some big elaborate secret, and she just gave Ziva that look that said 'is this juicy gossip?'. Alana always loved good juicy gossip, she was queen and Jaz probably had to be her little jester that always collects it. Jaz always seemed to know a lot of things and no one really knew how she found out about it.

Ziva puts her hands up in surrender.

"Honestly I don't know why you guys are getting all excited, all that happened was I was sitting on the couch with him when Emma called and he was acting all stupid, that was it" Ziva explained and she smiled at the thought. Because she might be saying it was nothing, and to them it will just sound like nothing, but to her she knows it was a lot.

"There is only one important bit of information that will settle this argument, how close were you two on the couch?" Jaz asked, playing the judge, jury and executioner. She looked at her pointedly with a little grin when Ziva didn't answer right away.

"Close, I guess" Ziva replied and she felt her cheeks go warm. It wasn't often she blushed but once she had a few drinks in her and she talked about something like her feelings for Tony, she would light right up.

The girls all looked at her and she knows she is caught out. Guilty as charged.

"What do you mean you guess? You were either sitting at opposite ends of the couch or you were close enough to be touching him" Emma smiled. She had a good idea of what the answer was going to be, especially with Ziva's cheeks being slightly pink right now.

"We were touching yes, but we always do" Ziva answered. She'd given up trying to avoid the question, she was just going to go right out and tell them everything that they are all dying to hear from her.

"You are always touching?" Sarah smiled. All of the women were now smiling at her. They know Ziva has it tough when it comes to relationships with males and Tony has always been that one man in her life that has stayed around. And they all know Ziva has some pretty deep feelings for the man buried deep in her, even if she tries to deny it sometimes.

"Yes" Ziva smiled at the thought, they were always too close, always in each other space. "Look, we were sitting on the couch and we were joking around, then he said I had a beautiful smile, I moved closer and he wouldn't stop smiling at me, then Emma called and he was being silly and was pretending to be a dinosaur or something while he leant on me, it was nothing major" Ziva explained, so they would get off her case, she hopes. Jaz and Sarah had their mouths open in shock and Ziva was sure they would catch flies in there.

"I am so sorry that I interrupted" Emma suddenly stated. Ziva waved her hand in the air in dismissal.

"You did not interrupt, nothing was happening" Ziva assured her friend.

"Ziva David" Jodie suddenly said, and she knows her friends hardly ever call her by her full name.

"What?" she asked, and the smirk Jodie had aimed at her had her a little worried.

"You want to know what my husband tells me when he's feeling honest and in the mood to share feelings? Things like I have a beautiful smile Ziva, you need to come clean to that man already he obviously has feelings for you" Jodie was always the one in the group who loved talking about romantic things, and since she is the sober one and giving Ziva this advice right now, she knows the woman is completely serious. When all the girls at the table start nodding their heads she knows they all agree with Jodie.

Ziva finds that her heart is racing a little faster, because she knows Tony cares about her and maybe one day that will go somewhere, but just the thought of all this encouragement from her friends makes it all seem so much more real. She's never had this feeling when her friends have talked to her about it before, and maybe she's only feeling this this time because she knows that something happening between her and Tony is really close to actually being real for once, not just a dream or fantasy.

"I am trying" she suddenly announces. She hadn't meant to say it, but the truth had just slipped out. Her friends suddenly stare at her even more shocked.

"Are you finally admitting to having some deep down feelings for him?" Alana smiles at her, because Ziva was never one to fully admit it. They all knew it was there but Ziva always tried to convince them otherwise. And yeah, admitting it out loud felt sort of good, and Ziva liked saying it.

"Yes, I have feelings for him and I am trying to make something work with him, somehow" Ziva stated and it was the most honest she had ever been about Tony. She starts to wonder what exactly was in that pineapple shot. Sarah suddenly hugs her and the girls get all excited like school girls finding out their best friend likes the cute boy in school that they always thought she had a crush on.

"It's about time" Emma winked at Ziva, because she had seen this coming for years, she knew it would happen one day. Ziva smiled, because it felt good telling her friends and finally admitting to someone that she has feelings for Tony. She briefly touched on it with Schmiel when the older man asked about it, but Ziva hadn't outright said that she had feelings for her partner to him. She knows he knows though, she could just tell.

Another round of shots suddenly arrives with the waitress and Jaz thanks her and hands them out to everyone. Jaz then raises her shot glass and looks at Ziva.

"I think we should all make a toast to Ziva finally admitting she wants to jump her partners bones, because I mean think of the sexy babies they would make" she smiled at Ziva. Jaz wasn't one to talk about pretty flowers and fairies, and Ziva knows this is her way of saying she is happy that Ziva finally admits her feelings for Tony, and that she hopes they have a good future if they finally go down that road. And everyone else knows that's exactly what Jaz means because they all know her and love her for how she is, so they all raise their glasses and make cheers to Ziva.

Emma who was on the other side of Ziva finished her shot and then turned to Ziva, placed her hand on her leg and quietly spoke to her.

"I am glad you are finally making yourself happy" she whispered and Ziva smiled at her best friend softly. Yeah, she was glad she was finally deciding to make herself happy in life too.

* * *

She didn't plan on getting very drunk that night, however Jaz can be a very bad influence that Ziva just cannot say no to, and neither can most the other women. It's just past eleven and most of them have drunk way too much in the span of four hours. Ziva has a lot more in her and she knows Jaz does too. Sarah and Alana look a little worse for wear but they have always been the two more lightweights of the group.

And that is exactly why they are heading home now.

The one sober woman of the group is going to take Alana home and Sarah's son was coming to pick her up. Sarah never stayed long past eleven because her son Grant wasn't allowed to drive after twelve. He was such a good son, always picking up his mother and he's never bothered by it one bit. He adores his mother to no end.

Alana would stay longer but the offer for a free ride and not having to call James to come pick her up was a big plus. Also if she stayed much longer with the influence of Jaz she wouldn't be standing much longer. They all said goodbye to Alana and Jodie as they left the bar and then they all went outside with Sarah while they waited for her son to arrive. The plan was after Sarah left that she, Jaz and Emma would move to the bar down the road for some more drinks.

They wait for a few minutes and talk about a handful of things, mainly the topic of conversation had turned to Grant because he was the one they were waiting on.

"He's actually expressed a real interest in doing a degree in physical education, mainly because he wants to play basketball in college" Sarah begins and her eyes settle on Ziva when the woman's face lit up quite a bit at the comment.

"What?" Sarah smiled. Why was Ziva smiling like that all of a sudden?

"Nothing, it's just that is exactly what Tony did in college" Ziva told her. Oh, so _that's_ why she was smiling so much. It all made sense to Sarah now.

"Well maybe since that is what Tony did, he could talk to Grant about it, what it is like and stuff?" Emma offered. She thought it sounded like a good idea, but what would her intoxicated brain know?

"Yeah! Would he do that? I think Grant would really like that" Sarah thought that was such a good idea. Grant never really had anyone to talk to about basketball or where he was going to take it, because Sarah didn't know hardly anything about the sport. Only what Grant has tried to explain to her.

"I can ask him, but I am sure he would be very happy to" Ziva replied with a smile. She knows how passionate Tony is still about basketball so she knows he would love to sit and talk to someone who was just as in love with the sport as him, especially if it was someone who was pretty much in the same shoes Tony had been in at that age.

"Speak of the devil" Sarah said and she suddenly waved like crazy at the car coming down the road towards them. Ziva will never get tired at how excited Sarah always gets when her son arrives to pick her up. Grant came to a stop next to the curb where they stood and as soon as he did he got out of the car and came around to his mom, who latched onto him with a hug.

"Grant! Baby why do you have to grow so quickly?" his mother asked him and Ziva and the other two women smiled at the sight. Grant chuckled at his mom. Grant stood quite a few feet taller than his mom now, he had really had a growth spurt in the last year. And he was a very good looking young man too, he had good genes in him. That mixed with how good of a kid he was and how smart and determined he is, he is destine to make a lucky woman very happy one day.

"Hey mom, good to see you have had a good night" he smiled. He let his mom hug him for a good minute and he smiled at the three women in front him that he knew very well.

"Evening ladies, you guys need a ride or are the three amigos not done for the night?" he smirked. Yes, this boy knew them all too well. In saying that he has known most of them for the past five years, some of them longer than that.

"There is still a lot of drinking to be done, and we plan on doing just that" Jaz said and Grant chuckled. He always loved how crazy his mom's friend Jaz was.

"Well you three be safe, and if you need a ride just give me a call" he gave them a charming smile as he opened the passenger door for his mom and slid her into her seat.

"You know you cannot drive past twelve Grant" Emma pointed out. But considering she was smiling he knows she's not seriously telling him off.

"And you know that I will still come get you if I have to" he returned as he buckled his mom in her seat. Grant knows he cannot drive after twelve but if he really had to, he would pick his moms friends up. Except for him and his mom there was no one else that was really in their family, no dad, no grandparents. They had all abandoned his mom when she got pregnant. However these women stand by his mom and they are all like family to him. He would do anything for these women.

He closed the door after his mom was all strapped in and he faced the three women.

"As long as Ziva doesn't arrest me for it" he smiled at her and she chuckled.

"I promise to turn a blind eye for the safety of you keeping drunk drivers off the road" Ziva smiled in return. Not that any of them would drive drunk, Ziva wouldn't let them even if they tried. She was very against it with what she has witnessed over the years.

"Deal. I will see you ladies later, be safe!" he called out as he got back into the driver's seat. As he pulled away from the curb Sarah waved out the window at them. Ziva had to smile, Grant was such a good boy and he'd do anything for his mother. She hopes one day if she ever has children that they turn out something like Grant. He was the kind of kid she would love to call her own, one that loves his mother and would go out of his way on a Friday night just to pick up her and her friends if they needed it.

Sarah really did a great job with that kid.

* * *

Two bars and a few alcoholic drinks later Ziva was really starting to get quite drunk. And it has been a very good night. She's at the bar buying another round of drinks for the girls when someone approaches her from her left.

"I've got it" the male says as he pulls out his wallet, like he's about to pay for her drinks. She holds her hand up.

"No it is fine, I am paying for it" she states and when she looks at him he's smiling at her, trying to be charming. She rolls her eyes, she has had far too much of this sort of attention all night. She's not interested in finding a date or someone to take home tonight. If she needs someone like that she already has someone in mind to do it with.

The guy trying to pay for her drinks is a very handsome man yes, and a few years ago she may have accepted his approach and maybe even gone home with him. Not anymore though, Ziva is looking for something much more in her life than a one night stand or a nice date, and she thinks she's found it with the right man.

"It would be my privilege to buy the beautiful woman her drinks" he says, because he's not giving up on her. Ziva sighs. Sometimes males just don't see the small hints that mean a woman is not interested.

"Well this beautiful woman happens to not except strangers buying her drinks" she states. And it's a little bit of a lie because she has let strangers buy her drinks before, many years ago though.

"I'm Derek Thomas" he says holding out his hand for her to shake. She is not in the mood to deal with this guy, he might be nice but she's had too much to drink to have composer and let him down softly.

"I'm married" she states, not shaking his hand. She knows she isn't married, but it's the easiest thing to make a man leave her alone.

"I don't see a ring" he looks pointedly at her hand. Well, it works most of the time.

"It doesn't mean that I am not married" she said as she paid for her drinks. Why would this guy not give up?

"And that doesn't mean that you are completely faithful to your husband" he states with a smirk. That was when this guy crossed the line, because Ziva didn't stand for cheaters. Ever since her father had cheated on her mother she had never had any ounce of respect for them. She knows how much it hurt her mother when her father had done that.

She picked up her drinks and leant in close to the guy.

"If you do not leave me alone right now you will regret it" she whispered in a deadly tone. The guy must have caught on because he suddenly looked scared. Yes, Ziva David could be intimidating even when she was drunk and dressed up all pretty and wearing heels.

She walks away from him with the drinks and returns to the table where Jaz and Emma notice her sudden mood change.

"What happened?" Emma asked. She knows what her friend looks like when her feathers have been ruffled by someone. And she knows it can be dangerous if someone goes the wrong way about doing that with Ziva.

"Just some idiot that was trying to pick me up" she waves her hand in dismissal before she hands out their drinks. She's over it already.

"And what did you say to get this guy to leave you alone?" Jaz asked with a smirk. She knew it would have been good, she knows how intense Ziva could be if you did wrong by her.

"Well first I told him I was married" Ziva said, trying to hide her grin behind her glass, however both the other women saw it. Jaz laughed and Emma looked at her knowingly. She knows Ziva wants a commitment in her life and one day Emma hopes she will get what she deserves. Something permanent. And she has a feeling Ziva is very close to starting something hopefully like that with Tony. It makes her smile.

"Then what'd you do?" Jaz asked. Really excited to hear exactly what she had done.

"Well I contemplated kicking him in a not so nice spot when he continued to think that my husband wouldn't mind, but instead I just threatened him" Ziva smiled. Jaz burst into another fit of laughter and they all joined her. When the laughter settled Emma turned to Ziva.

"You know you are not married right?" she pointed out, because she can tell Ziva got upset when the man had suggested she could cheat on her husband.

"I know, but that does not mean I am going to cheat" Ziva replied. Emma isn't quite sure if Ziva is saying that because she does not like people who cheat or if she has fallen that much for Tony that she is committed to not sleep with or see anyone else. Because Tony is who she wants and she doesn't need to search anymore. It makes Emma smile, because she knows how happy Tony makes her friend.

Ziva knows she is not with Tony yet but she cannot help but think she is at the same time. Because she knows she is committed to him and committed to starting something with him, these last couple weeks have had her feeling this way more than ever. And she knows how hurt he was when he found out about Adam, and to tell the truth she thinks she may have been even more hurt at herself for what she did than what Tony was with her.

She knows they were not together when that happened but they are almost at that point where they are ready to jump into something together, and they need that trust and commitment to be there before taking that leap of faith. Because what they are doing is difficult and it is hard considering all they have been through and all they have to lose.

Adam had been a moment of weakness in which she will never forgive herself for because she knows she was upset and needed comfort but she could have managed without it like she has many times before.

That does not matter however, what matters now is she knows she is committed and ready to make something hopefully permanent work with Tony, and no matter how many slow but sure steps it takes them to get there, she knows it will be well worth it in the end.

As she drinks her drink Ziva cannot help but smile to herself, because Tony already makes her so happy and she knows this is only just the beginning. There is a long and what she knows will be a very satisfying road ahead of them. And maybe she's had a bit too much to drink and she cannot control her thoughts, but she cannot wait until she lets that man finally let his hunger for her take her over. Eight years was a long time to hold back and her itch to have him in her bed has never been more ready to finally be scratched.


	5. Chapter 5

Tried to get this one done as soon as could in between working all weekend so far, and here we go! Thank you all for the great comments you all are giving towards this story so far, I hope it continues to please you!

Hundan

* * *

The pounding at her door is what wakes her and when it stops her head is still pounding. She doesn't move from her bed because she is hoping whoever it is will just leave her be and just go away. However when another round of knocks begin she doesn't think they are going to stop. She is willing to put up with the painful sound in order to wait it out, because she really does not feel like moving right now.

The next thing she knows is her cell phone starts screaming at her and goddamn, that is so much louder and closer than the door was. She feels around on her bedside table and finally grips onto the blaring object and presses the button that seizes the noise. She breathes out a sigh of relief before lifting the object to her ear.

"What?" she croaks out, her throat obviously hasn't recovered from the events of the night before by the sounds of things. She hopes whoever is on the other end of this conversation accepts her slight snarl, well, if it is the person knocking on her door right now she hopes it annoys them. She doesn't like being woken this early by anyone other than herself. Then she takes a quick look at the clock and realizes it's not actually that early.

"Don't tell me you are still in bed?" his voice asked. She had been angry before but suddenly she is finding herself smiling because his voice sounds so happy.

"If that is you knocking on my door I am going to kick your ass" she points out, however she is not serious one bit. And she knows he will be able to tell this by her tone. He chuckles over the phone.

"You cannot even drag yourself out of bed to open the door, let alone kick my ass" he replied, god he was cheeky sometimes "Are you going to come answer the door? I promise that I have very nice things with me" he states and she really contemplates getting up and opening the door at that comment because she wonders what he has brought her. However she does not think she has the energy in her to move.

"Can you just like, pick the lock or something?" she asks. She really should just give him a key.

"I am not breaking into your house Ziva, and plus, I don't have my tool with me" he says and she can hear his grin. Probably because he knows she is about to get out of bed for him when she really doesn't want to, but she will not leave him out there with goodies for her and he just knows that.

She groans before hanging up the phone without another word and she then attempts to make her body move, she eventually gets to her feet but it takes a lot of effort and her head spins slightly when she stands up. God, she is never ever letting Jaz influence her like that again. But she always tells herself that when she and Jaz end up having a how-many-tequila-shots-can-you-do battle. And as always she won of course, but that didn't mean she didn't throw up when she got home last night.

She was such a mess at the end of last night, but, it had been a very good night.

Her journey to her front door took longer than expected and that was probably because she shuffled like an old grandma the whole way there.

She opens the door for him and she is greeted by a very big grin on his face.

"Good morning sunshine" he smirks as he takes in her appearance. Her hair looked like a giant ball of black candy floss and the large t-shirt she wore was on a weird angle. He also wonders if she has realized that she is only wearing one sock.

She huffs and is suddenly more interested in going back to her warm bed than anything, even if his pretty face is smiling at her like that. She needs to lie down because her legs still feel drunk and she doesn't want to embarrass herself when they stop working and she falls over.

He smiled as he watched her walk away from him. And yeah, he couldn't help but stare at her bare legs because seriously, Ziva was one hell of a tease of a woman, and that's when she didn't even try at all. He definitely thinks she has a very good figure, scratch that, she was smoking.

"I thought you said you could handle your alcohol?" He grins as he closes the door behind him and follows her on her path back to her bedroom. He's only been in her room a small handful of times, and never for very long. However when she climbs back under the covers in the darkness of the room she doesn't seem to mind when he follows and sits next to her hip as she lets out another groan. She doesn't even seem to mind when he turns on the bedside lamp so he can see her better.

"I can" she replies, and she is honest in her answer. Because Ziva David is a woman who can handle her alcohol, but everyone does have a limit. Ziva's limit does happen to be very high though. He's never given her a run for her money when it comes to drinking but if he did he's not actually sure who would win.

"Did you start having drinking competitions again?" He asks, because he knows her too well. When he sees her flash a smile he knows he's got it spot on.

"And let's take it you won?" He would beat a lot of money on the fact she did.

"I would not let you down" she smiled at him and gives him a wink.

"This is why I bring you gifts" he smiles in return as he lifts up the bag in his hand. He knows this will test what kind of hangover she has. He pulls out a box of painkillers and she sighs in delight at the sight of them. Next is the real test, he pulls out a fresh blueberry muffin and when her eyes light up and she makes a grab for it he feels safe that she is past the spewing stage. It must have left her system last night, if it hadn't she wouldn't be grabbing at food so desperately right in this minute.

She takes a bite and lets out a moan. Yes that had been exactly what she had needed, she didn't even know she was hungry until now.

"Oh god, thank you" she is so in gratitude for the simple gift he brings her. Also that it happens to be her absolute favourite flavour. He knows her so perfectly well.

"And if you are up for it…" He pulls out of the bag her favourite tea, the one that's really hard to find. He watches her nod, he knows how much she loves this tea.

"Where did you get that?" She asks all excited, she loved that tea to no end but she can never find it anywhere. What had she done to deserve all this? Surely he's not rewarding her for the amount of alcohol she consumed last night.

"I might have mentioned it to my father because I found out they had a store there and he sent me some" he gives a shrug like it was nothing, even though he went out of his way just to get her favourite tea. And she doesn't want to start thinking about why he knows there is a shop there, because that would mean he looked into it just because of her.

"How do I deserve you" she smiled at him softly. This was actually really touching, it made her heart light up and she suddenly wished she didn't smell of alcohol so she could hug him. She might just have to owe him later on.

"On the contrary sweetheart" he replied. He was such a charmer sometimes, and lately she _really _likes it.

"I highly doubt this…" she looked down at her hangover attire and suddenly realised how terrible she looked and how underdressed she was "is something totally fabulous" she pointed out and when she looked up at him she thought maybe it was, especially with the way he was looking at her.

"You are the most fabulous woolly mammoth I have ever seen" he stated with a smirk and she chuckled and slapped his arm lightly at the joke.

"So are you going to stay in bed all day?" He asks as he watches her continue to eat her muffin. She really looked like she was enjoying it a lot and that made him happy. He doesn't normally go out of his way quite like this for women, but then again she wasn't just any woman. _She was the one._

"I was going to but then you got here and dragged me out of bed…" She said pretending like it had bothered her, however her smile gave her away like it always did lately "I think I will just sober up a little in the shower and then move to the lounge where I will most likely have a very unproductive day watching movies. Would you care to join?" She offered and when his face lit up she knew exactly what the answer would be.

"Oh you know I cannot say no to movies all day" he smiled and stood up from her bed "Tea and painkillers, plus a movie will be ready for you when you have finished in the shower" he smiled before leaving her be as he headed for the kitchen. She smiled more when she heard the cupboards open and close and the kettle turn on, he really was too good to be true sometimes and she was feeling better already. Maybe this day being hung over will not be so bad after all.

* * *

She doesn't know how many hours they spend on the couch that day watching movies, but it had at least been three movies long with snack breaks. She knows she fell asleep a couple of times while watching the movies and she missed some of the plots, but she wasn't too bothered by it and if she really wanted to know she knows Tony would explain it to her in every little detail.

When dinner time rolled around she was finally feeling rested and relaxed, back to a normal state and lounging on the couch all day with Tony and napping in the middle of movies had probably been what helped that.

When the next movie finished she decided on organizing dinner and even though she wanted to cook, Tony's offer for pizza sounded pretty good because continuing to be lazy for the rest of the day couldn't hurt much could it?

"I am only agreeing to this once, because you still need to change your eating habits" she smiled at him when he lifted the phone to his ear as he called the pizza place.

"I am sure you are going to agree more than this once" he grinned at her. She chuckled and rolled her eyes, because she knows deep down he is probably right. She goes back to making them another drink of her tea that he brought her when he starts talking to the person on the phone.

He doesn't have to ask her to know what she likes and what she wants on her part of the pizza, because he simply knows her and can make the decision for her. And she loves that about them. While she stirs their drinks she cannot help but feel his eyes on her, the weight of his gaze was always so heavy and she could just tell without looking at him that his eyes were on her.

She turns her head to the side and looks over at him and he is leaning against her kitchen bench and talking to the person on the phone while his eyes are completely focused on her, blatantly staring at her and admiring her. And when she finds his gaze with her own he smiles at her. He is not bothered one bit that she catches him looking at her like this, and lately it's been a lot like that. He will stare at her and his eyes will tell her so much, and it gives her butterflies in her stomach sometimes when he does it.

She looks back down at the drinks when a big smile grows on her face, because yes, this is what he does to her. This is how simple it is for him to make her happy.

Tony suddenly say's 'Got it' over the phone and the way he says it is suddenly so familiar that she starts to think back to work, to Gibbs. And she knows she cannot help but think about the man because she is worried about him. When Tony hangs up the phone she decides to bring up what she has stuck on her mind all of a sudden.

"Have you heard from Gibbs?" she asks, because she knows she hasn't. Gibbs is a man that thinks the less words spoken the better, but that doesn't mean that after they gave up their jobs for him that she hasn't heard from him in a few weeks.

She turns her head to look up at Tony when she hears him move closer to her. He takes a few steps and leans the side of his hip on the bench right next to her.

"No" he shakes his head, and just like her, she can tell he is also troubled by this fact. "I've been talking to Abby and apparently there is a rumour around work that he's on some big top secret mission for some agency that is partnered with NCIS for whatever it is he is doing" Tony tells her, and she is surprised that she hasn't heard about this until now. If that rumour was true it would make a lot of sense to why they haven't heard from him.

"You think it's true?" she wonders. She knows by the look on his face that he wants to believe it, because he doesn't want to think that the man who is almost like a father to him simply just preferred not to talk to him after all that he'd done for him. And suddenly, she also wants to believe this rumour so much more.

"I dunno" he shrugs, not sure what he really believes. This was hard for him and she knows this, because she knows exactly how hard it was for her and Tony has known Gibbs a lot longer than her. She puts down the spoon she was stirring the drinks with and reaches out and places her hand on his shoulder, softly running her fingers up and down in a reassuring motion.

"I think that if he was able to talk to us, we would have heard from him by now" she tells him, wanting to believe her own words more than anything. Because she hoped she knew Gibbs well enough to know he wouldn't just leave his kids alone and confused like this if he could help it.

"I hope you are right" he says, smiling slightly but the smile didn't seem all that happy to her. Because he's hurt about this, she knows he is. At least if they do not have Gibbs, they still have each other. And if there was one thing that mattered most about what happened, it was that.

"Me too" she says quietly and lets her hand fall from his shoulder and she goes back to finishing the teas that she was making. Tony didn't say anything after that and she knows he is standing there, so close, just watching her. Because she feels his gaze on her.

Then she feels his hand suddenly touch her and his fingers slide over her shoulder and come to rest in the middle of her back. The touch was so simple yet so powerful and it sent a sudden shiver and a rush of something running through her body and she wonders what exactly he is about to say to her, she knows it is something because when she turns her face to him and meets his eyes she just can tell.

"I'm just glad you are here" he says and she knows how much more emotion was wrapped up in that one little comment. Simply because she knows him and she knows exactly what he meant by that comment and it had her heart racing. He's struggling with this whole Gibbs thing but he'll be okay because she's there, she hasn't left him and she keeps him stable and on his two feet. And he is so glad that she is here still, right next to him. He still has his best friend by his side.

She is very obvious of his hand on her back right now, how his fingers slowly move in little circles. God his touch was like fire on her back and it had her chest fluttering on the inside. Sometimes she wonders if he really knows what he does to her with his touch.

"I would not wish to be anywhere else" she says softly. Because simply she wouldn't, she would never want to not be by his side. It's where… _she belonged_.

He's suddenly looking at her different and his eyes have her almost mesmerised in this entire moment and she finds she's lost all concentration on the tea in front of her and her hand lets go of the spoon once again. She doesn't know if it is the way his hand slides to her lower back now that has her turning to face him or if she just did it all on her own want, but she does it none the less and suddenly she is so close to him and she can feel his warm breath on her lips.

"Ziva" her name was whispered so quietly and she's not sure if he meant to say more or if that was it, whatever it was she just knows she finds herself losing herself in the moment and she catches the way his eyes flicker down to her lips before they return back to her eyes. In this moment she knows exactly what it is he wants to do.

His hand on her back tightens a little and she feels it when he pulls her even closer and she happily follows the movement. And when she's suddenly tight against his chest and she can feel the rise and fall of his breaths, her mind does a little flip because god, she really likes the feel of him all pressed up against her like this and so close.

She knows they are both hesitating slightly at what they both want to happen right in this moment, because if they are about to do what she thinks they are this was a big step for them. This meant that things would change, things would grow and go places. And if they did this they both had to be ready to jump in feet first.

She suddenly holds her breath when his other hand comes up and touches her cheek softly, so soft that it almost was like he wasn't even touching her. But she felt it and his touch spread gooseflesh erupting down her neck.

"Tony" she finds herself whispering his name right back to him and when she does he's so close that her lips almost brush against his at the movement. She doesn't know why she was saying his name but it sort of felt like it was her saying that yes, she wanted this. That yes, she was ready to do this with him right now.

She is staring into those big green eyes of his and they just look so powerful right in this minute, so hypnotic like they had her under some sort of spell. His eyes drop to her lips again and when they stay there this time and she feels the hand on her back press her to him even more and the hand on her cheek fully touch her she knows he's about to kiss her. And damn, she has waited so many years for this to finally happen.

She closes her eyes when she feels his lips press into hers and they are a lot softer than she remembers, so much slower than that time they were undercover. He holds his lips to hers and doesn't move, just holds her close and kisses her and when he pulls back the slightest bit she feels the most breathless she ever has at the most simplest kiss she has ever received. Tony had taken her breath away easier than she ever thought any man could.

His top lip still rests against hers, only _just_ and she takes in a breath because she feels out of oxygen at his touch and his warm breath is still all over her lips as he does the same. Her hands feel empty all of a sudden and so she brings them around his waist and when she thought he was done kissing her, her movement must have pushed him back into action and she finds out that no, he is not finished with her yet.

His lips come down to cover hers again and this time they move against hers and he's a little hungrier with her in this kiss. And to think that simple kiss had stolen her breath, she knows this was going to take away everything she had in the most best of ways.

His hand around her back curls around her shirt and the hand on her cheek pushes into her hair as he kisses her deeper. And yes she knows his mouth is a talented one, he uses it enough when he talks, but like this, god he was just so good at kissing. She could really get used to this.

The knocking on her door is what has the kiss slowing and she suddenly wonders just how long they had been kissing for, it must have been longer than she thought if the pizza guy was already at the door. He slows down the kiss and she can hear how out of breath he is when he leans his forehead against hers. And she knows she's as out of breath as he is right now.

He opens his eyes then and looks down at her and the smile that lights up his face is almost as bright as his eyes have gotten.

"I think I should get that" he says as another round of knocking rattles her door. She chuckles slightly and grips onto him a little tighter for just a second. Because she sort of doesn't want to let him go, no matter if her stomach is reminding her that dinner is knocking on the door right now.

"I think you are right" she smiles in return.

He leans back a little and the way he stares down at her has her smiling back even harder, because he's making her feel all sorts of good things deep in her heart right now. He tucks her hair behind her ear with the hand he had buried deep in her curls and then he leant in and kissed her quickly and softly once more.

"I will meet you in the lounge" he smiles as he begins to untangle from her and the last part of him to leave her was his hand on her lower back, because no, he didn't really want to let go right now but he had to. If he could hold her every second for the rest of his life, he would live quite happily.

The smile on her face when she picks up their tea mugs and walks to the lounge is possibly the biggest she's had in a while. She knows that they just had a very significant moment in their relationship moments ago and she knows things are about to change because of it. They didn't really have to say anything to each other to understand where this is going to take them, because they both want the same thing. They had been dancing around this for so many years and now something was finally happening. They were finally playing their cards that they had held so close to their chests for too long.

She guesses she should be nervous about where this could go, the bad things that could happen. But she's not, because she's much too happy to even think about anything like that right now. Because she had complete confidence in them and as she watches Tony walk over to her with the pizza in his hands and a big grin on his face she knows that he too has the confidence in them being able to finally do right by what they have.

When he sits down next to her on the couch he sits right next to her, so close that his shoulder brushes hers. He normally doesn't sit _that_ close right away but the fact that he is now has her heart warm and a smile directed right at him. One that he returns right back.

"Bon appetit" he smiles at her when he lifts the lid off the pizza. And god, it smells so delicious right now that she cannot wait to take a bite.

"Merci beaucoup" she smiles right back at him when she picks up a slice.

* * *

She can tell that he stares at her even more now, if that was even possible. And even though the kiss they shared had only been a few hours ago she can already feel the change in them. He's suddenly always a lot closer and he touches her more often, just in random moments and she finds that she really loves it when he does.

And she does much the same, because now that a kiss had been shared between them they feel much more open to the idea of being closer and have a sort of freedom to touch. Because that kiss had meant that things had changed, and they haven't talked about it yet and she doesn't know if or when they will, but until then she knows that things between them will continue to be much like this and yeah, she likes that idea.

She doesn't know how exactly she ended up lying across her couch with her legs resting on his lap while they watched their fifth movie of the day, but she likes it. His hands rest on her legs and they slowly move around, up and down or around in circles, just drawing lazy patterns on her skin however they want to. And she likes that it's sort of domestic, and she likes how he just doesn't stop touching her even though most of his attention is either on the movie or talking to her about something.

"I've been meaning to ask you a favour" she says part way through the movie. She hadn't been watching much of it because she's seen it before, and mainly because staring at him watching the movie had been so much more enjoyable right now. His eyes travel from the screen and settle on hers and there is a content smile on his face, and it had been there all night.

"And what kind of favour would this be?" he asked, with that little bit of charm ringing in his voice.

"You remember me telling you about my friend Sarah right?" she asked, not sure if he would remember. She watches him think for a minute before he looks back up at her and nods.

"Yeah, she's the single mother with the teenager, right?" he confirms, making sure he's got the right friend with the right name. And she smiles at him, because he is spot on with the friend she is talking about. He knows he just got some sort of extra brownie points for remembering by the smile she's giving him right now.

"Yes. Well her son Grant wants to get into Physical Education in college because he wants to play basketball, and since that is pretty much exactly what you did I thought maybe you could talk to him about it or something, because Sarah has no idea when it comes to basketball" she asked. His fingers draw a couple little circles on her leg while he thinks about, however she already knows what his answer will be. Simply because she knows him.

"Of course I could do that" he smiles, because anything for Ziva and Ziva's friends would be his pleasure. And also, helping out a kid that wanted to live Tony's childhood dream just like Tony had tried to, he'd be happy to help out. The fact that he is agreeing so easily just like she thought he would have had Ziva very happy with the man in front of her. Because Grant was a good kid and he deserved all the help that he needed to live his dreams that she knows he can achieve.

"Thank you Tony" she said softly, looking at him in a way that touched his heart a little. He knows he's been earning a lot of brownie points this evening, and he really likes it when she looks at him like that. He gives her a big smile in return, because she is always, oh so welcome.

"Is he any good?" Tony then asked and he watched Ziva smile and nod her head.

"Yeah, he is _really_ good" she said honestly from her heart. She knows he will go far. "He reminds me of you in a way" she suddenly added. She doesn't know why but she suddenly realized they were a lot alike. They were both loving men, who would do anything for another person, they were both smart, both charming and they were both really good at what it was that they love, basketball. And they are both going to make a lucky woman happy one day with everything they have to offer, and Ziva, she hopes she is that woman in Tony's life.

"I am really looking forward to meeting him" Tony replied as he ran his hand over her leg again and looked at her like he had suddenly read the thoughts she just had about him.

She smiled at him for probably the millionth time that night and just like he had all night he returned it right back. Yes, she thinks she is in love with this man in front of her.


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and let me know how they thought about it, and I am glad so many of you liked it so much. Hopefully the enjoyment will continue!

Hundan

* * *

It's not like her to run late like this. Well in saying that she's only ten minutes later than she said she would be so it's not that bad. But, whenever Ziva David had been late over the years he'd panicked because there was normally some important reason for it. And today he wonders what that was.

He smiles a little awkwardly at all the people going inside the venue because yes, he looks like a man waiting on his date and he knows some of them will think he's being stood up. But he knows Ziva wouldn't do that, he just doesn't like the judging looks he's getting.

A few that recognise him say hello and ask if he's coming inside, he greets them back and tells them he's just waiting on someone and they leave him in his own peace. Really he could just be waiting inside for her at the table but for some reason he wants to walk in with her, make an impression to others as they walk in together. And that's strange because he's never been like this before. But then again his not-yet-discussed-relationship with Ziva is nothing like he's had before. Because she's different, _they're different_.

He checks his watch again, fifteen minutes. He's glad he planned on being early because it would be kind of awkward for the best man to walk into the party after it's already officially started. It's okay, he still has twenty minutes up his sleeves. However when he looks up it's when he sees her and he cannot help the grin that spreads on his face, because god she looked beautiful. When she smiles back when she catches his gaze and as she walks quicker he realises that she's never dressed up like this for him before. Sure he's seen her looking all fantastic and made up before, but never was it for _him_. Until now.

When she reaches him she looks a little flustered and he suddenly wonders what had held her up.

"Sorry I'm late, Jodie had a little bit of a pregnancy scare" she says, and he suddenly starts to worry.

"Is she and the baby okay?" He finds himself asking and when she starts to wave her hand in dismissal he gets the feeling that there was nothing to worry about.

"Yes, she and the baby are fine it was just a false alarm" she said before deciding it was time to change the subject because she doesn't want it to bother him "You look very handsome tonight" she states with a smile and she reaches up and runs a hand across his suit jacket. She's actually starting to miss seeing him in his suits, it's been far too long and he always looks great in them.

He smiles back and gives her a very appreciating once over that yes, she did notice and she smiled more at him bashfully checking her out. The dark purple dress she wore right now really did wonders working with her figure perfectly. Sometimes he's amazed at how truly stunning she really is.

"And you sweetheart look absolutely beautiful" he said, not holding back one bit in his praise of how she looked. And he's not sure he's ever seen Ziva blush before, but he might think that he may have just witnessed it.

There is a certain way that she looks at him and he wonders what she is going to do next. When she lifts her hand from his chest to his cheek and leans forward his heart rate jumps slightly, because they haven't kissed again since when they first did last Saturday and yeah, a week was a long time but there just hasn't been a moment when they have done it again.

However her lips don't touch his, they find themselves placing a soft peck to his cheek.

"Thank you Tony" she adds quietly when she leans back and looks at him with fondness in her eyes. He really likes where they are at the moment, how they have become more open with each other. And even if they haven't spoken about it they just both get each other.

"You wanna head inside?" he asks when her hands leave him after he smiles at her and she smiles back and nods her head.

They turn and head into the venue and as they walk into the front door his hand finds itself at home on the small of her back, and no, she doesn't seem to mind the possessive touch at all. Little that he knows is that she really, really likes it. She always does whenever his hands are on her.

They walk into the main dining room where the event for the evening is being held and most of the people seem to be seated and small chitter chatter fills the room and makes it feel warm with life. He looks around for a second and then he spots Josh at what looks like to be the bridal table and Tony smiles and waves back at his buddy when the husband-to-be spots him and Ziva and waves.

As Tony and Ziva get to the table Josh stands and gives Tony a hug.

"I fought you weren't going to make it for the opening beers" Josh jokes with him and Tony chuckled.

"You know I wouldn't miss that" Tony replied with a smile before he turned to Sophie and greeted her with a hug and a kiss to the cheek. At the same time as he did Josh turned to Ziva and gave her a hug and a kiss.

"Good to see you again Ziva. And good to see you're keeping an eye out on my boy" he smiles at her and she returns it. She's always liked Josh, he was like Tony in a lot of ways and he really was a great guy, funny too.

"It's nice to see you too Josh, and congratulations of course" she returns. When she leans back from the hug with Josh Tony and Sophie are smiling at her. She hasn't met Sophie before and she was really looking forward to seeing the person who had captured Josh's heart.

"Thank you. Ziva this is Sophie, Soph this is Tony's partner Ziva" Josh said, doing the introductions. Ziva leant forward and gave the tall blonde a hug and a kiss. Ziva had never been much of a hugging person but these days she was a lot more accustom to it, and she actually liked it a lot more than she used to. It's funny how over the years you can change like that.

"It's nice to finally meet you Ziva" the woman said and Ziva smiled in return.

"I've been looking forward to meeting you" Ziva replied and the woman smiled right back at her. While they were exchanging pleasantries she was sure she caught the sparkle in Tony and Josh's eyes when they watched their two women meet for the first time. And _wow_, she had just referenced herself as Tony's woman. But really, isn't she?

Not long after that they had all taken their seats, Tony next to the groom and she sat herself in her place next to him. Her seat had been situated next to one of the other groomsmen, one who was yet to arrive. According to his nametag on the table he was Nick. She listens into Tony and Josh while they are talking about the first round of beer they were about to order.

She doesn't know why she smiles so much when Tony turns to her and asks her what she wants to drink, maybe it's just watching him being so carefree with his best friend. Maybe it was just being out with him tonight. She doesn't know, all she knows is that she cannot help but smile at him.

"What?" he chuckles, because yeah he notices her very happy face and he wonders what she is suddenly so happy about. If it was something he did he had no clue to what it was that he'd done to make her so happy all of a sudden.

"Nothing" she chuckles back, because the face he was giving her right now was adorable and yes, she was using that word on him right now "I'll just have a wine please" she says with a smile. And he doesn't need to ask what kind of wine she wanted because he knew exactly what she liked.

"One wine for the pretty lady coming right up" he says, god he was being charming this evening. And she really, really liked it.

"Should we go open some tabs?" Josh then asked him, because if they were planning on drinking all evening that would be the best way at buying drinks tonight. Tony nods and agrees, because his best friend was always full of such great ideas.

Tony placed his hand on Ziva's shoulder, well aware of her bare skin under his touch and it shot a wave of fire through him at the feel of her warm tan skin. However it's not like he's about to jump her bones right this second in front of all these people. No, he's got more wits about him these days.

"I'll be back in a sec" he leant down and whispered to her, not sure why exactly, there was no need to be so secret about it. Probably because it just meant he could lean that little bit more closer to her. She smiled back at him with that same beautiful smile she'd given him a lot so far this evening and she nodded in reply while she placed her hand on his that was on her shoulder. And that movement had made his smile grow.

His hand left her when he stepped away to follow Josh to the main bar and he knows that his face was giving away far too much information when Josh started looking at him a little strangely.

"What's up with you and Ziva huh?" Josh grinned at him. He's not a blind man and neither of the two people in question had consumed an alcoholic drink yet so they cannot blame their acts on that. And Josh knows his best friend, he's not a man that is normally so open with women like he can tell he is with Ziva. Unless that woman meant something, and a _very important_ something.

The look that Tony gave back to him said so much.

"Are you guys dating?" He asked, suddenly a little too excited. He knows Tony has been infatuated by the woman since he had first met her, however as the years rolled by that infatuation turned into something so much more. He knows he has deep unresolved feelings for her.

"Well we haven't really talked about it, and I wouldn't say that exactly, but things are going somewhere" Tony explained to his friend. He's kept most of his feelings for Ziva to himself over the years but now he doesn't feel the need to hide it from his best friend.

"Have you guys…?" Josh asked while he waggled his eyebrows and bumped his two fists together. Tony chuckled.

"No we haven't" he said, shaking his head at his friend. Josh knows Tony never holds back that much when it comes to sleeping with women unless there are feelings deeper than just sex there and if he and Ziva haven't yet, if they were trying to make things happen, that says a lot. Ziva wasn't just any girl.

Tony watched his friend and he knew exactly what his next comment was going to be, because he was so predictable.

"I kissed her last weekend" Tony said with a grin. He knows what Josh was thinking so he would just give him the information to him before he asked. Josh suddenly looked at him with slightly wide eyes and a big grin.

"You really did?" Josh asked. He never thought Tony would ever get around to actually making a move on his beautiful partner. But it seems as though some sense has finally gotten through to his friend.

"Yes, is that so hard to believe?" Tony asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, considering you've been hovering around that woman and not making a move for what, eight years now?" Josh stated with a smile. Yeah, Tony knows it has been a long time and it's taken so long for him and Ziva to start moving along with something. But good things come to those who wait, right?

"Yeah" Tony nodded his head. It had been a long time but he wouldn't say that he hadn't done _nothing_ in those eight years, because he'd done a lot and he and Ziva have been through a hell of a lot in those eight years.

"And was it worth the wait?" Josh asked as they got to the bar. He watched his friend and he saw the way his eyes sort of drifted off into thinking about it, and a smile that was so personal to the woman he'd brought along with him tonight lit his face.

"Most worthwhile thing in my life" Tony said and Josh noted the way his voice went a little softer and his friend suddenly had this emotion showing in him that Josh had never really seen before. However he liked it. Tony had always been a bit of a womanizer and these last few years he'd changed so much. And he liked that change in his friend, he liked that he was now looking at the one woman and hoping to have more than just a one night stand with her.

"I guess it's safe to say you'll be bringing her to the wedding then?" Josh asked and Tony sent him a smile and nodded in agreement. And Josh is starting to realize that his best friend is madly in love with that girl.

* * *

Tony arrives back with her drink and hands it to her with a rather charming smile, and she has a feeling that he's going to be very charming towards her for the rest of the night. Because she gets that feeling deep inside of her that he's just in that moment tonight, surrounded by his best friend who's getting married to the woman he loves and that passion probably rubs off on him. It makes his feelings come more alive and he's shown her that tonight already and it hadn't even been more than two hours yet.

And so far she was really enjoying herself, and most of that reason had to be because of him.

It wasn't too long before the seat next to her became occupied by the gentleman named Nick. And he seemed very much the gentleman. Despite the impression the tattoos that escaped his formal attire gave most people, the art on his neck and hands did not make this man disrespectful or anything much like the blame society places on heavily tattooed people. No, he was by far a very kind man, introducing himself to Ziva right upon seeing her, smiling at her and shaking her hand. And she liked him, he was very interesting, and a very well-mannered man, one who had a high respect for everyone he seemed to talk to.

And the one thing she liked most about Nick is that he hasn't asked her a million questions, like what her relationship with Tony is, the who's the what's and the whys. Like the other handful of people that have stopped at the table so far, everyone is asking all those things. But Nick, he's just happy to sit there and enjoy his time and not ask her what she knows he's noticed has bugged her and Tony in the last couple hours.

Sure she and Tony know they are here together, and that they are trying to make something work, but how exactly they were meant to explain their situation to others they are both not too sure. So far they have just settled with what they know, that they are partners. And whoever it is they say it to can make a judgment from that answer with whatever they think that means exactly.

And when Tony begins to talk to Josh about something involving sport, Ziva loses interest. Because yes she enjoys sport and sometimes she enjoys watching it, but that doesn't mean she likes to talk about it for hours on end. However she knows Tony does.

She turns her head to look around and she observes the room full of people. Everyone is here now except for Josh's cousin who couldn't make it because some emergency had come up involving his kid and that said kid falling off his bike. There were a lot of older people here, Josh and Sophie's parents, aunties and uncles. Grandparents if they were lucky enough to still be walking about. She'd seen a very fragile looking old woman earlier, but according to Tony she was Sophie's grandmother, only still around because she had Sophie's mother at a very young age.

There was so much family around and that hit a little close to home for Ziva, because she knows she has no real family left, really. Maybe a couple aunties and uncles she hasn't talked to for years, but nothing like a family so close, and _alive, _like this one. She wonders if she ever gets married how small her wedding will be, because it's not like she has much family to invite. Then again she still has a family, just one she doesn't share her DNA with. And she loves them all just like they were her own blood, but sometimes it's just not the same.

They also have a lot of friends here, celebrating the happy couple's engagement. And that makes Ziva smile. She knows Josh is a very good man, very friendly and that he has a lot of people in his life that love and care about him. And she might not know Sophie very well but she could pretty much guess by the amount of people in the room is that she is just about the same way in nature when it comes to friends and family as her soon-to-be-husband.

She smiles when she thinks about her and Tony, because yeah they are much to same also. They don't have much real family around but the family they do have there is one they have both adopted. And if they didn't have that adopted family they both have that small select group of friends outside of work that is like the missing piece to the puzzle when it comes to their lonely families.

As she turns and looks her eyes settle on Nick whose eyes suddenly catch hers, and he smiles at her and she returns the gesture in kind. She wonders why she hasn't heard Tony talk about this guy Nick before, they seemed to know each other quite well if the hug they shared when Nick arrived said anything.

She has registered that Nick didn't have a partner or anyone with him tonight, and she wonders if that is because they couldn't make it, or if Nick simply hadn't had anyone steal his heart yet. It wouldn't be hard to love the man, because he seemed like the type one could easily fall into a simple happiness with.

It's funny because when she first met Tony she never looked at him like he was the one she would love one day, that one day he would be the one man who meant more than anything to her and that she could so easily fall for him. But she had and he'd been the one. It's funny, you always seem to search for the one that you want to fulfil your life like that, but when you find them they seem to come from the most unexpected places and in the end you never actually had to look too far to find it.

Then Ziva notices the ring on Nick's finger that she hadn't seen there before. So he had let someone steal his heart.

"Your partner couldn't make it tonight?" she begins, wondering why the absence is there. And the bright smile that lights up Nick's face tells Ziva that yes, someone has most definitely stolen every little piece of his heart if he smiles like _that _at the thought of them. She wonders if Tony smiles like that when someone asks him about her.

"No, she got called into work last night and she's been working shift ever since then" he stated, just at the thought of her he was lighting up.

"Does that happen a lot, her being called in like that?" she asks. She's curious and she honestly doesn't think he will mind her asking the question. Ziva knows exactly what it's like to be called in so suddenly, stopping everything just to go back to work.

"Yeah, quite often. She's a nurse so I'm okay with it, a mean she's saving lives with what she does every day. Sometimes though, it's hard not seeing her when she's off working all the time" he begins, because he seems to talk to her easy, and Ziva wonders if he's like this with everyone he talks to. "I guess when you and Tony are concerned that it's easy for you in that aspect, even if you're working a lot, you'll still see him" he then adds with a smile. She hasn't told him where she works or what she does for a living, so maybe she's been mentioned before to him from Tony. And that thought really makes her smile.

She knows she and Tony don't have that job anymore and they have never actually been together in a relationship while they have worked together, but she was just going with the flow of conversation right now. Because she's cared about Tony for a long time, and being surrounded by him at work had always made her day a little brighter sometimes.

"Yes, I guess we are lucky in that aspect. However if he is annoying me it does not always work in my favour" she grinned, because that was so true, and Nick chuckled at the statement. Because he knows exactly what she means. You may love someone so much that you'd go to the end of the world and back for them, but that doesn't mean they won't get on your nerves from time to time. Everyone is human in the end and in reality it's never always perfect. But if you can get as close to perfect as you can with someone, you are doing pretty good.

"It would be better if I had similar hours to her, but she tends to do a lot of night shifts and I do day shifts, so that doesn't work out too well in our favour" Nick says, going back to the topic of his wife's job. And right then, she realizes she doesn't even know what he does for a living.

"What is it that you do?" she asks. She's curious because businesses are very restricting when it comes to tattoos these days, and it's not like his are very hidden.

"I'm a tattooist" he smiles, holding out his colourful tattooed hands "And I love what I do very much, if you could tell" he states. She knows he is referencing to all his tattoos, and yes she is kind of captivated by them. Because they are all very tasteful looking and she suddenly wonders just how much of his body the art covers.

"How did you and your wife meet?" she finds herself asking him, because she wonders how exactly a nurse and a tattooist ended up together. And the grin that grows on his face tells her, yes, it is very interesting.

"Well I had an accident while mountain biking and I was rushed into the ER and she happened to be the one that had to scrape all the gravel out of my backside" he let out a little chuckle and she found herself joining him "And I don't know what it was, but there was just this spark between us and she was very funny and I really liked it, and then she wrote her number on my cast after she put it on my ankle the next day, and since then I just didn't give up on chasing her, and here I am five years later" he said holding up his ring finger. Ziva smiled, because that was one heck of a story. And it's funny, because some people dive right into loving someone, no regrets and then there are people like her and Tony who avoid it and circle around it for years and it takes a lot of willpower and strength to still hold onto the other for all those years until they finally reach the day they give into the other.

And after eight years, she's finally glad to be giving into him. It's been a very long journey but they had taken the long road for a reason, and in the end what they had gone through to get to this point had made them stronger than ever.

"I know the exact spark you are talking about" she smiled, a big and full smile. And she knows Nick will know she's thinking about Tony right now, and that makes him smile too. Because he can suddenly just tell how much she cares about his friend.

And right then, like he'd been sent a bat-signal that she was talking about him Tony suddenly switched his concentration to her and Nick. He'd had no idea what they were talking about because he was too wrapped up in talking to Josh, and she just knew he had no idea.

His hand touched her lower back and ran across the soft fabric of her dress as he leant into her and over her shoulder to look at Nick and work his way stubbornly into their conversation.

"She tell you about her tattoo yet?" Tony asked, smirking. Because there wasn't many people that know about her tattoo because it wasn't something she liked to spread out to the world to know.

"Tony!" she blurts out and his smirk grows. She's not actually offended by him telling Nick and he knows it, however she doesn't want him telling everyone. And she can feel it when he smiles against her neck as he moves closer. She knows he's had a few to drink already and he's always a little more touchy feely when he's had a couple. And she knows they are in a room full of people and the affection he gives her right now is so blatantly obvious, but neither of them is bothered by it and that surprises her a little.

"No she hasn't" Nick said smiling at the two in front of him. He's never seen Tony like this before with a woman. Sure all through college and for years after he was all over the women, but not quite like this. Not so personal, so domestically. He's never seen his friend in love before, but he thinks he might be seeing it right now.

Ziva sighs because she knows she has to tell now, however the smile she aims at Nick tells him she's not that bothered by talking about it with him.

"It's just a small Hebrew script that I got when I was young" Ziva explained. Only a handful of people have seen it, Tony being one of them. Nick was about to ask where when Tony's finger softly runs underneath her left breast in a pointed motion.

"It's nicely done" Tony says, because he knows a good tattoo when he sees one, he's known Nick long enough to know what's good and what's bad. And Ziva lets him touch her like that, so freely and so openly and it's so new to her because she's not used to this from him, especially not in front of someone like this. But, she likes it. And the touch makes her body grow warmer.

"You know, that makes Tony the only one on this table right now that hasn't got a tattoo" Nick smirked at Tony. For years he'd always offered to give the man a tattoo but he'd never wanted one. Nick's not sure why, probably because it wasn't really Tony's thing, so he never forced him into it.

Ziva lifted her hand to the one touching her ribs and she found herself holding onto his hand and weaving her fingers between his.

"I think he is too much of an old school for a tattoo" she said with a smile as she turned her head to look at Tony. And with the smile he sent her, yeah, she'd got it pretty much spot on.

"He's always been too old school, I think it's a cop thing he picked up" Nick replied with a smile. And she fully agrees with Nick, because Tony liked to be an old school cop, with his old school techniques. It just made sense that that's where he got some of his character from.

"You two have been spending too much time together, I can tell you guys are going to gang up on me in a fight at some point" Tony said with a smile and it made Ziva and Nick chuckle.

"As long as you get me another wine I will not fight you for at least a few hours" Ziva said, with a sly smile on her face. And when Tony chuckled into her shoulder at the comment before pressing a very soft and personal kiss to her shoulder before he stood and let his arms fall from around her, she thinks he is starting to really get very comfortable with touching her. Because he's shown a lot tonight already that he likes to touch her, and after that kiss last weekend he knows he has the free will to do so.

If she thinks about it she would have never pictured him as the very hands on touchy domestic type, however she really likes that he is. She never used to be much for the affection quite like he is giving, but she has changed over the years a lot, and when it comes to Tony his touch is always welcome on her. And she always enjoys his touch.

"You want something too?" Tony asked as he looked up at Nick. He knows his friend is looking at him with a very specific and judging smile right now, because his affection for Ziva is very obvious. But Tony doesn't mind, and Ziva doesn't seem to mind all the touching, so he cannot see anything bad in this. What they are doing is comfortable between them, and he couldn't be happier about it.

"Yeah, just a beer thanks Tony" Nick replied and they both watched him walk over to the bar with a slight bounce to his step. And yeah, they both know exactly why that bounce was there.


	7. Chapter 7

Little bit more of a longer chapter for you all, and I have a feeling you will all enjoy it that little bit more! Minor warning for some heated moments ;)

Hundan

* * *

She sits with Sarah and they both watch as Grant shoots a few hoops and every single time he gets it in, like it was natural and no effort from him. They are just down the street from Sarah's house at the basketball court where Grant has perfected his skills since he first picked up a ball, and they are just waiting on Tony to arrive.

Ziva was quite excited, because neither Sarah nor Grant have actually met Tony before and she is really looking forward to them all becoming acquainted with each other. Especially for Tony to see if he can give any and all of the help he can to Grant to help the kid really get a handle on what he's going to do in college next year. Because Grant means a lot to her and she wants that boy to get the best out of himself that he can.

"You still haven't told me how the engagement party went last night" Sarah said to her, a grin growing on her face. She'd told the girls last weekend that Tony had asked her, and she knew Sarah would bring up this conversation at some point today. And Ziva smiled right back, because yeah, it had been such a wonderful night.

"I had a really good time" Ziva said, thinking back to all the times Tony had made her smile the night before. That and meeting some really nice new people. And Nick, she really liked Nick.

"Any interesting highlights of the evening?" Sarah asked, because she knows there are some juicy details somewhere, she just needs to get them out of her friend.

"A few, I met some really nice new people and Tony was rather affectionate last night" she said with a smile, one that she knows lit her face right up at the thought him. Sarah smirked at her in return, because this little development she was starting to have with her partner was very interesting. She's never really seen Ziva this obviously head-over-heels for someone.

"Oh he was, was he?" Sarah said, and Ziva chuckled at her friend. Ziva has only spoken to Emma since last weekend so she's only told Emma that Tony had kissed her last weekend. And maybe it was time to tell Sarah too.

"Yes, ever since last weekend when we kissed he's been rather fond to being a lot more touchy feely" she stated and she smirked when her friends eyes widened. Sarah hadn't expected _that_.

"You what?" Sarah asked, her voice rather loud in her sudden excitement and that drew a look from Ziva _and_ Grant. Again Ziva chuckled. When Grant realized her mom and Ziva were just getting excited over some sort of gossip he went back to what he was doing. "And when did this little kiss happen huh?" Sarah smiled.

"The night after we went out, he'd been over at mine all day and it just sort of happened" Ziva explained. Sarah was a little surprised because all of this was coming from Ziva so easily right now, and normally she would hold her feelings in as best as possible. Whatever it was that Tony was doing to her, Sarah liked. Because it made her friend a lot more open about things. And she liked that development in Ziva.

"And what has happened since then?" Sarah asked, surely there was more. Ziva's smile was bright when she shook her head.

"Nothing really, I mean his hands like to touch a lot more, but we haven't kissed again since that night" Ziva said, and she knows she wants to kiss him again, the moment just hasn't come. She almost did last night. He'd called her a taxi and they had waited outside, his hands had been on her waist and he'd told her how happy he'd been that she'd come along tonight. And she knows he was about to kiss her in that moment but then Sophie's parents had walked outside and Tony had been the gentleman and said goodnight to them. And before they knew it the taxi had arrived.

However with the amount he'd had his hands on her last night she still had a lot of affection from him, even if she didn't get a kiss goodnight.

Sarah's looking at her in a way Ziva knows too well, and she could probably guess what she's about to say right now.

"Have you two talked about it?" Sarah asked, because she knows what Ziva's like. And at the shake of Ziva's head Sarah sighs. "Why haven't you? I mean it's important isn't it? When what you two are doing is more than just nothing" Sarah says, cracking down with the speech in her most motherly guidance. Ziva finds that she and Jodie do this a lot.

"It's complicated" Ziva replies, because suddenly she's really not sure what to say. She doesn't know exactly why she and Tony haven't talked about it, they just haven't. And it felt comfortable how it was so why interrupt the ease that they have? But when she thinks about it Sarah is right, and maybe that interruption is needed.

"Ziva honey, life is complicated. But when something is worth it, you need to do things to keep it in your grasp. And it might make things harder but the harder you work for something the more worth it it's in the end" Sarah told her, and Ziva could hear Sarah's hobby for writing creep in right now. Because those were deep words and she knows the things Sarah writes as a poet are powerful little twists of words.

Ziva lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding at Sarah's words and her friend saw it. She knows this is a big thing for Ziva, her relationship with Tony had always been a big thing in her life and now it was starting to become even more important than ever.

"I will talk to him tonight" Ziva suddenly made a decision, because her friend was right and she suddenly knows exactly what she has to do, so she is going to do it. She had this shot with Tony and she was going to make damn well sure it was important as she really wants it to be. No matter how hard her heart would race in her chest and how her nerves would bubble up when she will try to talk to him about it. She just knows it has to be done.

"Just like that?" Sarah asked with a smile, because that had to be the easiest she's ever seen Ziva be convinced.

"As you said, if it's worth it, keep it in your grasp" Ziva said returning the smile. She planned on holding onto him in her grasp for a very long time. And even if she can feel her nerves about this conversation already she was not going to let this hold her down. She was a strong woman and she can fight for this. This is the most important thing she will ever fight for.

* * *

She saw when his mustang pulled up at the park and when Sarah noticed the sudden smile on her face she just knew that Tony had arrived. It wasn't long before he spotted them, but then again it wasn't that hard because they were right next to the basketball court. He was wearing a shirt and his basketball shorts and sneakers, so she has a slight hunch that he's going to see just how good Grant is at basketball.

She stands from her seat on the park bench when he gets close and for some reason she just greets him in the way that feels suddenly so natural between them. Her hands go on his neck and shoulders and her lips kiss his cheek. They've never been the type to greet like this, but maybe now they are because he went with her so naturally. It's weird, because she would have expected them to be like this maybe after they had slept together, not so soon. But she likes it so she's not going to complain.

"Tony, this is Sarah, Sarah, this is Tony" Ziva introduces as she steps back from hugging him and Sarah's smile is wide and Ziva would put it down to how she and Tony just greeted each other. Tony, ever the gentleman, gave Sarah a hug.

"It is wonderful to finally meet you Sarah, I have heard many great things about you" he said to her as he pulled back and gave her a charming smile.

"Much the same to you Tony, thank you for coming" Sarah returned. Sarah had a few things that she expected when she first met Tony from what Ziva had told her over the years. Yes, he was handsome, yes, he was charming. And yeah, he really was simply just a really good man at heart. Sarah could tell already.

"Anytime Sarah" he returned. Anything he could do to help this kid out he would, because he's trying to live Tony's dream after all.

Grant must have seen Tony arrive because he'd made his way over to them all, and when Tony had seen him he'd held out his hand, which Grant took kindly. Because as Ziva knows, they are a lot alike. Not that she had shared that with anyone other than briefly with Tony.

"You must be the man of the hour" Tony said and that made Grant smile.

"Nice to meet you Tony" Grant returned. Tony could tell right away that the kid had good manners, that he was raised to be a good man. And already, Tony likes this kid and he's not too sure exactly why that is.

"Give you a game?" Tony then asked, pointing at the ball in Grant hands. And suddenly Grant became a lot more excited, and Ziva knew that was because he loved to play against anyone. He was always up for the challenge.

"Of course" Grant said before smiling and heading back out to the court. Right before Tony turned to follow him he looked at the women.

"Would you like to join ladies?" he offered and they both laughed and shook their heads.

"No thank you, you boys enjoy yourselves we will just sit here and watch" Sarah replied. She suddenly can tell why Ziva likes Tony so much, how she has fallen in love with this man. He was so easy to be around, he was comfortable.

"Your loss" he smiled and ran out to join Grant in the court. And both Sarah and Ziva had big smile on their faces, for two very different reasons.

* * *

He's good, this kid is _real good_ and he's giving Tony a really good run for his money. Tony doesn't even get this challenged by the guys he plays basketball with normally. This kid really has a lot of potential.

They had play very hard out for a while, until Grant started to really tire him out with the moves and all the tricks. Tony hasn't been worked this hard in basketball since his days back in college. It's been a long time since he's had a decent challenge. And when the play slowed down a bit Tony started to really talk to the kid, about what he wanted in life, where he saw himself in a few years.

"Why physical education?" Tony asked, he guesses the kid wants to do that for the exact same reason he did.

"Well I love sport and when my basketball career ends, or if it doesn't end up being a career at all, I'll still be involved in sport in some ways" he explained before he bent and jumped, taking a shot. And yeah, it had been the exact same reasoning as Tony had. "It would give me a head start in becoming a physiotherapist or something like that" he continued to explain. Tony grabbed the ball that just fell from the net and bounced it back to Grant. Tony had thought much the same as Grant did at his age, however when Tony's dream crumbled he found himself in such a different situation that he planned. He'd never planned to be a cop.

"It's a good degree, I learnt a lot even though I never finished. I have a feeling you'll like it" Tony stated and Grant shot another perfect shot into the hoop.

"How come you never finished?" Grant asked. He hasn't been told Tony's story yet and he wonders why he never went anywhere with his basketball and how he became a cop. Because Grant can tell he's good, even though he's not in his prime, back in the day Tony would have been a great player.

"When I injured my knee it crushed my NBA dreams" Tony said, a little quieter. He didn't talk about this much, and he doesn't remember exactly when it was the last time he talked about it. Probably a few years ago when Ziva had asked about it.

"Were you close?" Grant asked. He wondered how close Tony had been to going pro, and he felt Tony's pain. Because if his knee was injured and he wasn't able to play the one thing he loves most, he wouldn't know what to do with himself. Basketball wasn't just a sport to him, it was his passion, his love.

"I'd been approached by a couple teams that were asking about my thoughts on where I was going to take my sport" Tony said. Because yes, he was so damn close. He was almost right in there, his foot had been in the water but he'd slipped and he'd lost his dream. Grant knows exactly how close that meant he had been, and damn, he'd pretty much been accepted to be in the professional league. That must have crushed him deep down when he'd broken himself.

"I'm sorry" Grant suddenly said, because he gets it and he feels what the man in front of him feels. Because they have that passion for the same thing and they have/had the same dreams. Grant has so much more respect for Tony right now, because what he'd been through must have been hell, and coming back from that to become the man he is now, that took a lot of willpower in a man that had a strong heart. One that was willing not to give up. This man in front of him was not a quitter.

"Just make sure you look after your knees" Tony said with a smile. Because this kid had great potential, a lot like he had in his days, and Tony wanted this kid to get there. For Grants dreams and for his own. If Tony couldn't make it, Grant had the right to. That's how Tony saw it anyways.

"I have no idea what college to go to, I mean I've had a few offers but I just don't really know" Grant said. He'd had such a hard time trying to pick, he'd had so many good offers. And he can't talk to his mom about it really, because she doesn't understand basketball or what college is best for it. She never went to college. It's why she's so proud that he's going, that she believes he has so much potential.

"In the end, it doesn't matter where you go, if you are good like you are it won't matter. You will still be found and recognised, you just got to go somewhere that makes you happy" Tony said. He has a feeling it'll be somewhere close to home, because Ziva's told him he's very close to his mother.

Grant bounced the ball a few times as he thought and then he looked up at the man in front of him.

"You really think I'm good enough?" he asked. He doesn't know if he's good enough for where he wants his dreams to take him. Did Tony really think he's got what it takes?

"Yes, I believe wholeheartedly that you are capable of this" Tony told him, and it was true, he sees the great potential this kid has and if Grant doesn't see it himself Tony will make him believe it "You need to believe how great you are, and you need to know that what you are worth is more than a lot, and that you need to go out and get what you deserve. And never let anyone make you think any less of your potential, don't let yourself point fingers and blame him or her for your failure, because it's in _your_ power not to fail. You're better than that and you have the potential to get anywhere you want to be" Tony continued and suddenly he felt himself wanting this kid to do so great, because he has it in him to be that man. Tony can just feel it.

He knows the kid is holding the ball in his hands and staring at him, taking in that powerful little speech he just gave out. And he is much too aware of how quiet the women have gone outside the court, he can feel their eyes heavy on his back right now. Yeah, sometimes Tony had good passionate advice. You just had to be the right person to get it out of him.

"Don't give up on your dream, protect it, go for it. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it. I believe in you, because you want this so bad and you are so good at what you do. And you need to believe in yourself more than anything" he added, because he wasn't exactly finished. He wants this kid to reach his dream, and if his little words helped him right now, he would talk all night long.

"I'll never give up" Grant said. Tony had thought the kid wasn't going to say anything because he'd gone rather quiet at Tony's sudden strong words. Tony took a step over to Grant and placed his hand on top of the ball that the kid held.

"This is your passion, and if you never give up on it it's going to take you far. You'll work harder than ever to get there, but once you are there it will be the most worthwhile thing that you have ever worked for" He told him. He knows exactly how he would have felt if he made it. He'd worked so hard for it, he'd bled and he'd sweat, he'd done everything he could. And not making it crushed him, he always wished it had been different because after all that work getting there would have been so bittersweet. But then again he likes where he is today, who he is today. And maybe his fate had decided that was how his life was going to be.

Grant looked up with him with something swimming in his eyes, and the look really got to Tony.

"I've never had a father around but if I did, I think he would have told me something like you just did if he would have been a great father. And I thank you so much for that" Grant said, because what Tony had said had been so much more than just inspirational. So much more than just simple words from one man to another. There was more there because somehow they were alike, and their dreams were connected. And that got to Grant, because this was the first time in his life that he'd ever felt like someone had given him the feeling of having a father to help him when he needs it. And a son needs a father's advice sometimes, and Tony's advice had meant all that much no matter who he was and that he'd only just met him today.

Tony's not going to say that what Grant had said hadn't got to him right in the heart, because it told Tony that what he'd said had been what a great father would have done. And maybe one day Tony would be that great father, even if he didn't believe in himself. He never thought he would be a good father, but maybe he was wrong.

And when Grant suddenly reaches out and gives Tony a hug, he goes along with it. He doesn't think he's ever hugged a teenager before but, this sort of was nice. Because this kid intrusted him even if he'd not even know him this morning. And the fact Tony had such an impact on the kid that was going for the same dream he'd tried for at his age, had meant a lot. Tony had never had that support like this, and he would give anything to Grant to give him what he always needed when he was struggling with things at that age.

"Do you have any games on anytime soon?" Tony asked when Grant pulled back. Because Tony really wanted to see this kid fully in action, it would be a great thing to watch. Grant started bouncing the ball again because they had passed their little enlightening moment and gone back to casual that easy. And maybe Ziva was right about them being so alike, because they seemed to just be on that same wavelength.

"Yeah, next Friday. Did you want to come?" Grant asked, making a perfect shot over Tony's pretty good attempt at deflection. And Grant seemed excited that Tony had shown the interest.

"Yeah, I'd like to see you in your element, full court and not just one on one with an old timer" Tony smirked. Had he really just called himself an old timer? That was so bad. Grant had laughed however.

Grant went for the next shot but Tony blocked it this time, stealing the ball and taking the shot. Nothing but net.

"You're not too bad for an old timer though" Grant smirked and it was Tony who chuckled this time. Yes, meeting Grant had been really good.

* * *

She'd ended up catching a ride with him, because after all Sarah had picked her up this morning. And no, Sarah hadn't minded that her friend had left with Tony in favour of her, she knows that girl is determined to make things change, and really change with Tony tonight. And Sarah would do anything to help that happen.

And he notices that she's all smiles as they drive to his apartment, no discussion about where they were going, she was going with him wherever he takes her. He just knows. And he's smiling too, because every now and then he turns and looks at her and she's smiling out the window at nothing in particular and the wind from the open window blows through her hair and the sunshine lights up her face. What has really put that smile there today he wonders?

He feels like saying something to her in the car but in the end he doesn't, because the silence feels so perfect and peaceful. And he's happy just to watch her smile like that quietly. He cannot stop his thoughts though, because as of lately they have been all about her and not much else held his attention so much.

There's this feeling deep in his bones that he just knows he loves her, he will admit that to himself at least. He knows he's nowhere near ready to tell her that of course, however he knows he's ready to take steps that help him get to that point hopefully someday soon.

He feels like anything is possible between them right now, because he feels her passion for him too. It's in her touch, in her words. And he's never been more sure about anything else in his life, he is ready to do this.

He knows once they dive into this thing between them that it's not going to be all that easy, things will get hard and there will be difficulties. Because that's the way life is and when you are doing something like this with someone so important to your life like she is to him, it's always going to be hard. But it'll be the most worthwhile thing he will ever do. Because they just fit, and he cannot love anyone in the same way he does her. The two of them have been through too much, and there is no reason not to go through so much more together.

And no one else makes him feel the way she does, no one makes him smile like she does. Everything is always just so different with her and that's what he loves most about her.

They get to his and she follows him upstairs to his apartment like it's her rightful place, and in his eyes it has always been her rightful place. He's so used to opening up his home to her now because it's where he wants her to belong. She suits his place, she just fits so well with it. He used to think it felt like home, but now, it only feels like home when she's here.

He tells her he's just going to have a quick shower and change, because Grant had worked him pretty hard today and he's still a little sweaty. She smiles and is perfectly fine with that, because she feels comfortable in his home and when he leaves her alone like that in his place she feels kind of, like he trusts her with anything.

He wonders if he'll hear the piano ring out in his apartment like last time he left her to her own devices in his apartment, but no. He doesn't hear it this time.

He's quite surprised that when he walks out of his bedroom she's standing at the end of the hallway leaning against the doorframe, looking right at him. She had something on her mind and he could just tell, and she was about to get it out of her system and tell him that thing right now.

"Tony I have something I need to say" she starts and her voice is quiet as her eyes look down at her hands suddenly. He knows she's nervous he can see it in her posture, the avoiding of his eyes, the way her hands toy with each other. And right in this moment he's pretty sure she's about to be the one to push them that next step further.

He takes a few steps to her and when he comes to stop right in front of her she looks up at him, because she cannot do this without looking at him and he knows it. No matter how nervous she is and how nervous she is suddenly making him.

"I know we have not really talked about what we are doing-" she stops suddenly when his hand touches her cheek and he makes her focus right on him. Makes her gaze hold his, willing her not to look away.

"But we should talk about it" he finishes for her, because he is on the same page as her, and he wants the same things as her. For once in their life they need to really talk, no stopping, no interruptions. They need to get feelings out and words need to be said, because they were finally going there. They were doing this.

And from this moment onwards they will forever be changed.

"I used to wonder will we ever change, would this ever go anywhere" she tells him, because for years she had thought that. And not that she knows it, but he'd thought much the same over the years. He feels her hand touch his waist and it makes him lean a little closer.

"But lately I've stopped wondering, because I can feel the way you commit yourself to me in a way that took me a while to really understand" she said as she brought her other hand up to his chest and she could feel the way his heart beat so strongly against her palm.

"And I want to commit everything I have to you" she says and he can feel the nervous shake in her tone, because this was her taking that big step, that chance. And it's not often she was this bared to someone, this honest with her heart.

The fact that she had seen over the past few months how he had committed himself to her in a way that he thought she hadn't really seen, had meant a lot. She'd seen the way he'd tried to show her that he was ready to move with her, ready to make things work in ways that would make his life feel more whole. Because he's never whole unless she's around him.

His hand on her waist tightens a little because suddenly there's a lump in his throat as he opens his heart fully, breaking down the last little bits of the walls he has around her. There are no walls between them now. His hand on her cheek brushed the small strand of hair off of her face and his eyes looked down at her like nothing else in the world mattered to him right now. All she saw in his eyes was herself.

"There is no one else I would rather commit myself to then the woman that makes me the most happiest without hardly trying" he says and his words make her chest tighten and her eyes burn slightly, wanting to shed tears at the beauty of his words. Because no one had ever said anything as passionate and so deeply emotional to her like that. No one had ever loved her enough to tell her something like that, so honestly from their heart. And this is why she loves him, this is why she wants to spend the rest of her life with him. Because he deserves her love. Because he makes her happy.

It was hard for him to say, but the honest words that he tells her makes him feel the most important than he ever had. Because he sees the way her features go so soft and her eyes shine up at him with happiness wanting to spill down her cheeks. He'd never told her how he feels but the first time he's tried, he's done it right. He's said it right. And he was finally sweeping her off her feet.

Her hand on his chest curls around the fabric there and at the same time he's moving closer without even thinking about it, because god, it was so time to kiss her again. And after this, after admitting all this, he's not ever going to stop kissing her. Ever.

His hand on her waist draws her closer to him until she's pressed against him so close that the rise and fall of his quickening breaths are felt against her own. She blinked as she stared at his eyes, seeing a mixture of many things there, but the one thing shining brighter than the rest was love.

After what felt like longer than eternity his lips finally pressed against hers and a shudder erupted down her back, because there was something in the passion of his kiss that always seemed to have a strong reaction out of her. Kissing him wasn't like anything else she had ever known, and maybe that's because when you find the one that's right for you, simply kissing them made your knees weak and your heart lighten.

His hands on her held her to him, refusing to let her go at all, not that she planned on escaping from the powerful passion he was bestowing upon her right in this minute. And she felt the point in the kiss where he didn't plan on letting go for a while as he deepened the kiss and slipped his tongue into her mouth to join her own. And god, kissing him like this she could never get enough of.

It's the point when he took a step into her more and she felt his body press her into the doorframe she had been leaning onto a few minutes ago that she knew he wouldn't back down unless she stopped him. Because he'd waited for this moment for years, far too many years and the growing hunger in his kiss told her that his wait to have his moment with her had grown so powerful over all those years. But it's not like she planned on stopping him because she had anticipated this for as long as he had.

His hands moved and the one that had been on her cheek a second ago joined his other on her hips and she was slightly surprised when his hands grip her and lift her against the wall and he presses closer into her, his mouth chasing hers all that more when she lets her legs wrap themselves around his waist. She's not used to this from him, so passionate, so much lust, and it had her head spinning suddenly because it's what he does to her. His hands were on her like they own her, and she could really get used to this feeling.

When his hand slipped beneath the back of her shirt she felt the heat of her body rise that much more at the feel of his fingers on her bare back and his own breath hitched at the feel. Because god, her skin was so warm and soft beneath his hand. And she can feel what this is starting to do to him, because no, that was not his knee she could feel pressing against her.

She felt his body shift again and his lips slowed against hers before they moved to her neck and she held her breath. Because her neck had always been sensitive and when his lips continued to press along the soft skin there she bit her lip, holding back the moan of appreciation that was willing to break from her lips. The sound escaped, because she couldn't hold it back and she felt his second hand join the other under her shirt and his hands gripped hard on her back muscles.

"Ziva" he whispered against her neck as he pressed her tighter into the wall. Getting his body as close to hers as he possibly could. And the way her name came from his lips was almost like a question, like he was asking if where this was going was okay with her.

"Tony" his own name slipping from her lips as her hand drew tight around his neck, holding his mouth where it was because she didn't want it to stop, it felt much too good. And it was her reply to his unspoken question. And she knows he understood it when his hands moved higher up her back and drew her closer to him.

His hands around her back grew tight and he pulled back and looked down at her, his eyes darker than she's ever seen them. And right in that moment it suddenly hit her that they were actually going to do this, not that she doubted it a second ago when he kissed her how he did, it's just the way he looked into her eyes that told her that he wasn't stopping until he satisfied her with the love he had to offer her. Another heat of anticipation ran through her body suddenly and then she felt him move and start to walk them both down the hallway to his bedroom.

Her legs and arms tighten around him and she settles her lips on his neck, and at the harsh intake of his breath and stronger grip on her back she realises that he too is sensitive when he's kissed there. It makes her smile against his skin.

He stops when he reaches the end of his bed and she unravels her legs from his waist and he sets her down on her feet, right before he brings his lips right back to hers and devours her in the most blissful way. And it doesn't take long for his hands to grip onto the hem of her shirt, pulling the fabric from her and baring her skin for his hands to touch so much more freely.

It sends gooseflesh across her stomach when his hands run across her gently almost, at such a different pace from his lips right in this minute. It makes her breath quicken and her hands finding themselves on his own shirt, wanting to feel the bare of his skin on her own hands. As soon as she rids him of his shirt her hands are claiming him she can tell he enjoys the touch at the way his hands grip onto her tightly and he draws her closer.

When his hands go to her bra strap the heat within her spikes that much more and when he removes the garment from her it's the first time his lips stop against hers and when his hands touch her so softly they both let out a moan in content as he touches her so intimately on her bare chest. She moves her eyes to look up at him and he's looking down at her, waiting for her eyes to join his.

"God Ziva, you are so beautiful" he tells her and when he says it it's like he's held that comment in for a very long time. She knows he appreciates her because he's called her many things, like looking nice, sexy and hot, but never has it been so soft and personal. It makes her chest tight and her smile warm. Because she likes to be appreciated, she works hard to keep her body in this physical condition. She knows Tony doesn't work as hard as she does, but she really loves the softness of his body. Especially when it presses up against her.

She kisses him again and her hands go to his belt, because suddenly he's not naked enough for her right now and she plans on changing that. While her hands do, his go to her own pants because he's just as keen to get her naked as she is him. And it makes her smile against his lips.

She finds that he's a lot quicker at ridding her of her pants than she is him, but as soon as their pants are dropped to the floor his hands are on her in an almost dominate way and he lifts her and pulls her onto his bed, him following her all the way. When he leans down on top of her and presses her into his bed she stops the kiss suddenly and looks to the side, and he looks at her a little confused.

"You brought a new bed" she says with a light chuckle. When he'd laid her on his bed it hadn't felt like his little single that she'd slept in last time, and when she takes a look she finds that her feeling was right and she lay on a queen sized bed. He chuckled in return.

"I thought it was time for a change" he whispered against the skin of her neck before he kissed the skin there some more. She wonders if he saw this coming, if he saw her sharing his bed in the future and decided to be prepared to share his bed with her and so he'd made some rather big changes about his room. The thought that he did made her smile, because she could not think of any other way he would give up the love he had for his small bed that he talked so highly about.

Her skin tightened as his hands ran over her shoulders and he pressed her harder into his bed, and she could feel that already he would almost be ready to be taken deep within her. And that thought made her shiver in anticipation for something they had both wanted for a very, very long time.

The kissing on her neck slowed and she felt him move again and this time he settled right above her and stared down at her, smiling at her suddenly. She smiled back and wrapped her arms around his neck, one hand going into the back of his hair and toying with the short brown strands.

"From now on I'm never going to let you go" he tells her, oh so very softly. It made her heart warm and her smile brighter, because that meant a lot. And she stares at him for a short moment and he smiles down at her, because he just knows she has a reply for him and he's just waiting for her to say it.

"You've never let me go before" she says, and god it's so true. He's never let her go, never let her leave him. He's always been there by her side, he's always had her back. He'd always go to the end of the world and back for her and it makes him smile so much more. Because this doesn't change much between them, they are still the same.

Now, they are just so much better than they were before and as he leans down and kisses her again she knows they have finally done right between them. Because they finally feel like they fit exactly right with each other, not stuck between partners and friends, but now they are finally what they rightly deserve to be.

Lovers.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello. **

**I know I have been gone for a long time, longer than is considered fair to you guys but I couldn't help my absence, I just had too much things going on with work and my personal life that I had to take a bit of a break from fanfiction. **

**I know I would have lost people following this story in my absence but I hope that those of you that are still around enjoy the continuation of this story. **

**Hundan.**

* * *

She wakes to the feel of a warm body locked around her in such a domestic way. This is not something she is used to, she's so used to waking alone these days, she hardly shares her bed with anyone more than one of her girlfriends.

And when she does share with them she doesn't tend to wake up naked and wrapped up in their embrace like she is with Tony right now.

This is also something she's never done with Tony before, never have they ever been as intimate as they were last night. Last night had taken them that next step, and now things were different between them because what they did last night was a start to a new beginning. And she could just tell that after last night they were both _so_ ready to start this new chapter together.

The feeling of Tony behind her like he is, his chest so close to her that she could feel the soft rise and fall of his breathing, was such a peaceful thing. She felt the most relaxed and calm that she had in a very long time.

She could also feel his gentle breaths against her neck, his hand possessively around her stomach. He held her like he was afraid she would escape in the middle of the night while he slept, however there was no chance of that happening. She wasn't leaving his embrace anytime soon.

She can see the sunlight escaping underneath his curtains and she wonders what time in the day it is, she knows they were up quite late last night with all the years in catch up they had to do between the sheets.

She was never worried about what Tony was like during sex, she'd heard a lot over the years and she knew he would make her completely melt when the time came, but she didn't know what she was in for until she truly experienced it herself. Because god, he'd blown her mind more than once. He was a fantastic lover and she doesn't think she will ever get over how great the sex is with him.

She was a sexual woman, she always had been, and for the first time in many, many years she felt fully satisfied.

She moved her hand down to cover his on her stomach and she weaved her fingers between his. She loved being like this with him, it's only so early in the relationship but she cannot help but adore being able to have her hands on him, his on her. She craved a close relationship with someone like this and because it's with Tony it means _that_ much more.

When her hand grips his she feels his own hand move into the movement and then she feels his chest let out a large breath before a content hum releases from his lips.

"Hmm good morning" he says quietly and she can feel the smile on his lips when he places a soft kiss to her neck which makes her hum in reply.

She could really get used to this with him, waking up to him like this every morning would make every day that much more of a blessing.

"That it is" she replies with a smile on her own lips. Why does he seem to make her so happy so easily? Or had it always just been like that with him?

His strong hands move to her hips and he's suddenly rolling her to face him and she goes with the movement effortlessly because yes, she wants to smile up at his face, kiss him good morning. And she does, first she chuckles lightly at the beaming grin on his face and the sparkle in his eyes before kissing him softly and running her hand into the back of his hair. She loves weaving her hands through his hair, she doesn't really know why.

She leans back after and just looks at him and he stares down at her with a softer smile on his face, and she hold his gaze, wondering what exactly it is what he is thinking right in this minute. She chuckles again because his blatant affectionate stare is getting to her and she hopes her cheeks aren't going pink.

"What?" she asks him softly. She really wants to know why he is looking at her like that. He chuckles in return and leans down to kiss her, so very gently.

"I don't know, I just feel happy with you here with me right in this moment" he says when he leans back and he gives a little shrug, like he thinks he sounds ridiculous. She is pretty sure after _that_ comment her cheeks must be pink.

"I don't think I've ever been happier" she replies with a small smile, because that's something big for her to admit to him, however it felt so right and it was so true. His hands tightened around her at that admission and his lips found hers in his passionate need to have her as close to him as possible.

She knows she cares deeply for Tony, she may think she loves him already. However she knows she is going to start to fall so hard and deep for him that there won't be and easy road back from where they are going to go. But she will go down that road with no hesitation, and she knows deep in her bones that so will he.

* * *

Soft kisses are pressed against her shoulder while his fingers tug the dress shirt away from the skin that his lips possess. His other hand is pressed against her hip and drags her backwards, closer to him and away from the kitchen counter where she is attempting to make him some lunch.

"Tony" she chuckles lightly "If you do not stop, you will not be fed" because she knows, no matter if they have been at it all night and all this morning, she wouldn't deny him. There is a lot of catching up to do.

His kisses do not stop but she hears his stomach rumble in hunger. She used to think he was a man all about his food, but she is now realizing he would put his woman before food, anytime. When his hand on her hip slips under the shirt and explores her soft caramel skin she cannot help but let go of the lunch contents on the counter and close her eyes. There was something in his touch and it made her melt so fast that she felt like a teenager touched for the first time by a boy. It had her so excited so fast and gooseflesh never failed on spreading across her skin like wildfire.

"Tony" she whispered this time, warning him again. His hands were like little naughty children trying to steal from the cookie jar.

His hand stopped moving and his lips left her shoulder, only to be replaced by his forehead as he let out a soft chuckle.

"Sorry" he said, pulling her a little closer "I cannot help but touch when you stand there in only my shirt" he explained, and yeah, she felt the grin on his face.

"I can put more clothes on?" she offered, smirking as she went back to making his lunch while he was still attached to her from behind. She liked how domestic this felt, she'd long wanted something domestic like this to share with someone. Someone who would love her right. And she's pretty sure she has found the right man for the job. He'd always been the right man, he's always been there for her.

"No, it's fine" he chuckled and she did too. She knew that would be his answer, she knew he was quite fond of her walking around his apartment half naked, she'd seen it in his face a short time ago when they came into the kitchen to make lunch. "So what's on the agenda today milady?" he asked, and she laughed at his attempt at some sort of 'pet name' for her. She knows she's going to have to get used to him and whatever weird and random affectionate pet names he is going to use on her.

"Well I have nothing planned as yet, until dinner, but I am sure your creative mind already has something planned" she grinned, because his lips were now touching her neck. She knows what he would like to spend the rest of the day doing, continuing on with lost time.

"This creative mind thinks that maybe me and this really beautiful woman in front of me should just be a little lazy and stay in bed all day" he said as he kissed along her neck. By god, she was going to be so drained after today. It will be _so_ worth it though.

"Is that so?" she asked, smirking as she finished putting his sandwich together before turning in his arms to face him. He was smirking right back.

"Ah huh" he said, his eyes twinkling all the while. He just looked so happy, and it made her happy because she knows she's the one who put that happiness there. It meant the world to her. "What are the dinner plans that you already have?" he asked as he ran his hands softly up and down her sides.

"I'm going over to Emma's for dinner" she began "And I am sure if you would like to come, you would be very welcome to" Ziva smiled when she saw the invite to her friends dinner made him smile more. She doesn't know why he seems excited to go. Maybe it's because he's invited as more than a friend, and he likes the sound of it. Because she likes the sound of it too.

"I would love to come, if it's alright with Emma" he replied. She knows Emma would be very happy for Tony to come, for one she might get some juicy gossip about the two of them, and Ziva knows Emma really likes Tony.

"I'll give her a text later, but I am sure she would love you to join" Ziva smiled in return, placing a soft kiss to his lips before handing him his sandwich and telling him to behave and eat his lunch. He smiled back and thanked her, that happy twinkle in his eyes again.

Ziva knows taking Tony to Emma's could potentially be dangerous, sometimes her best friend is a little crazy, but she knows it will be a great night. And now that she and Tony have started this new chapter together, testing out how they are around other people will see if this new them will show or be unseen. And if they are going to test out their relationship in front of anyone, Emma is probably the best one for the crash course test.

She just hopes she and Tony can keep their hands off each other, unlike the majority of the morning.

* * *

"Tony, it's so good to see you again, how long has it been since the last time?" Emma asked as she pulled the man in question into a hug. Tony wasn't used to hugging Ziva's friends and he wonders where this affection had come from that Emma was now showing him. He looked over to see Ziva giving a little smirk at his confusion.

"I would say it was at least eight months since I did drunk pick up of Ziva that time at the bar and saw you last" Tony explained with a small smile at the memory of how entertaining Ziva had been on that drive back to her house when he'd dropped her home "You are looking really well" he added a little compliment, which he knows will get him brownie points with both women. The smile on Emma's face confirmed it.

"Thank you Tony" she replied, she always knew Tony was a bit of a charmer, and she can understand exactly how easily Ziva could fall for this man sometimes. "I don't believe you have met Sam before" Emma said referring to the tall sandy blonde male that just came into the kitchen from the door outside, wiping his hands on a cloth.

He placed down the cloth and gave Ziva a big hug and a kiss on the cheek before turning to him and Emma.

"Sam this is Tony, Tony this is my husband Sam" she said with a smile, placing her hand on the shoulder of her life partner. Tony had heard a few things that Ziva has told him about Sam, like that he was a personal trainer and owned his own gym. And now that he sees Sam he can really see that in him, he looks very fit and man, he's got some big shoulders on him.

Tony held out his hand to him and Sam took it kindly.

"Nice to finally meet you Tony, I've heard many good things" Sam said, smiling but also sending a quick cheeky look to Ziva. Tony sees already that Sam seems very good humoured.

"Same to you, these women speak pretty highly of you" Tony returned and it made Sam chuckle lightly.

"I don't know what about, I'm only a slave to their every command" Sam joked and in return Tony laughed while the two girls smirked. Tony had a feeling he and Sam are going to get along very well.

A little later Tony found himself outside with Sam on the barbeque with a beer in his hand.

"So, Ziva tells me that you're gym is doing really well lately?" Tony asked the man next to him. Tony has never been much of a gym fan, not since his football days anyways. He was much more of an own body weight work out person.

"Yeah, it's just started to really expand out in the last few months, it's been good" Sam said before taking a sip of his beer "Emma and I were talking about possibly starting up another gym if it continues to grow like this" he added. Tony raised his eyebrows, it must _really _be doing well then if he's thinking of opening a second gym.

"These days the gym business is just getting so much bigger, a lot of people are getting into that fitness stuff" Tony said. He sees it everywhere these days, a whole heap of different fitness programs and things.

"You get into it much?" Sam asked him. Tony gave a light chuckle, because if Ziva was here right now she would have laughed. He hasn't exactly been very pro exercise these last couple of years, however Ziva doesn't seem to mind his size if last night was any indication.

"I go for a run every now and then, but since college I haven't been that hard out into it. Just never really been my thing" he said with a shrug and a sip of his beer.

"Emma's like that, I've tried to get her into it but she just likes to go for a run or do yoga and that's it" he chuckled.

"Unlike Ziva who loves the idea of fitness" Tony added with a laugh, one in which Sam joined in on. Tony hasn't met another woman who is as in love with working out as Ziva is. If something is stressing her she'll work out, if she's bored she'll work out.

"She definitely gives the guys at my gym a good run for their money" Sam continued to chuckle "She spared with this guy Jack a couple weeks ago and I can still remember the shock on his friends face when Ziva broke his nose" Sam laughed.

"Well she's not a woman to mess with" Tony stated, laughing too. How come Ziva didn't tell him about this? Probably because she doesn't like it when she accidently hurts the guys she spars with.

"Exactly, I've never gone a round with her, bugger that" Sam replied and both the men had smirks on their faces "You had a go with her at all?" Sam asked, curious.

"A few times, I've learnt my lesson though, I never spar with her now unless I have a cup on, head gear, _and_ a mouth guard" he explained and they laughed some more.

"You must have some real guts to tango with Ziva" Sam said, and he wasn't just talking about it in a sparing situation anymore. Tony could tell from the look Sam gave him. Tony smiled.

"The possibility of getting the ninja beat down is worth the risk" Tony admitted and he wondered if Sam would see the glint of seriousness in his face. Because really, Ziva was worth the risk of anything.

He could see that Sam was smiling at him in a certain way, he'd picked up on something that Tony had said or done in that last comment.

"Ziva hasn't really said that you two are together, I'm guessing that you are?" he asked, carefully watching Tony for his reply. To be honest Tony wasn't actually prepared for this question, he never actually thought that he'd be asked liked this. And before last night he knew the simple answer, no they weren't, they were just _very_ good friends. But now, after last night, things were different. So what was he meant to say in reply?

"We don't really talk much about it, but things are neutral" Tony said with a knowing smile. And Sam seemed to just _get_ it, he understood somehow.

"Pretty new?" Sam asked and Tony knew he was referring to his and Ziva's relationship. Sure their feelings and everything that comes with their package deal wasn't new, but the more intimate side of things between them was very new.

Tony replied with a small chuckle and he nodded. He doesn't know how Sam understood so well, he just did so easily and Tony found that easy to talk to. Sam then tipped his beer bottle towards Tony and Tony went with it and clinked his bottle against the other man's beer.

"I'm glad, you seem to make her very happy from all the stories I've heard" Sam stated and when Tony gave him a curious look Sam grinned. So Ziva talks about him when he's not around? Probably more than once? Interesting. Then again, he talks about Ziva a lot when she's not around, and he has done for many years.

"She talks about me huh?" Tony smirked. Sam chuckled.

"She'll probably kill me for saying this, but _oh yeah_ she does" Sam laughed. Tony just grinned and shook his head. He always wondered if Ziva talked much about him like he did her, and now he has his answer. And right now, things couldn't get any better.

* * *

Ziva David has yet to reach a point in her life where she feels such bliss. She's spent so many years circling around Tony, not sure at times if she should chase or run away from her feelings from him and now that she has settled permanently on the chase of him she couldn't be happier about the emotional struggle she would call the years they've spent together. And now as she shares her evening with him and two of the people closest to her, she couldn't ask for anything more in life.

Sure she may not have a job and she knows she should really start to think very strongly about what she is going to do about that, however she's been too distracted with this thing with Tony do be thinking about it. But now that she is on a comfortable level with him now she should get onto sorting out what her future looks like for her. Would she go back to NCIS? Would she go to another agency in the same field of work? Or would she try her hand at something totally different?

She doesn't know and this is why she needs to think about these things. However not tonight, tonight is about enjoying this night with the people who are some of the best friends someone can ask for.

Her face lights up in a smile when Tony reaches over the table and tries to steal some of her cheesecake, her fork stops him in his track.

"You haven't touched that piece in like five minutes, I thought you weren't going to eat it" he sends her a wickedly cheeky grin and she chuckles lightly at him before releasing his fork and letting him have the piece.

"I'm too full, you can have it even if you don't not need it after already having a second piece tubby" she grins and pokes a little fun at him. She'll always joke about his weight, but she truly likes him how he is, and she knows deep down he knows that.

"You love my tubbiness" he plays right back with a poke of his tongue. That's when Emma gave a small laugh and Ziva looked over to see Sam with a matching grin to his wife. Ziva doesn't think she's ever brought a man around in a situation like this with her friends, and sure Emma has seen her interact with males, but nothing ever like this. She's never showed just how attached she is to a male in front of these two until now. And she happens to be very attached and have a lot of other baggage along with it when it comes to Tony.

She doesn't realise that shortly her night was about to change so drastically that she'll later look back on this moment at the dinner table to try and keep her emotions in check when she's faced with something that will change the course of her life without her having to think too much into it.

It all starts when she hears her phone ring from somewhere in the kitchen where she left it, however she leaves it because as she explains to Emma, she's not on call anymore and whatever it was could wait. Having the feeling she could do that for once in her life felt great, free. However when it's Tony's phone that rings next her gut twists in a way that wasn't digestion. And when he looks at his phone then looks across the table at her with that certain look in his eyes, she knows his gut is suddenly on high alert too.

He excuses himself from the table and walks into the kitchen and she hears the mumbles of his voice as he talks to the other person on the line. She then excuses herself too, because she just has this feeling that this isn't a regular phone call. Emma gives her a worried look when she does because her friend tends to be very good at reading her moods, and she knows what Ziva's gut feelings are like. Normally right in its suspicions.

She walks into the kitchen and when her eyes lock with Tony's and she sees a dark look with a shine of glassiness to them, her stomach drops. She doesn't like what she sees in his eyes, whatever it is its painful.

"Okay Tim, we'll be there as soon as we can" he says quietly, voice a little rough. And when Tony says 'we' to their old partner no one needs to explain who he meant, Tim would know it's her. There is no one else it would be.

As he tucks his phone in his pocket he doesn't look at her, like he's gearing up to tell her something that will crash her world down and he just needs that extra second to hold himself together. When he finally looks at her, she doesn't want to hear it. The look he was giving her already had her heart tight in her chest.

"Who?" she asks, because she knows the look he gives her and she knows that something bad has happened. She thought that when they left NCIS this sort of thing would stop, the hurt of this sort of situation would no longer happen. But it seems that it's following her, because it doesn't want to give her the right to have a normal life for once. She thought she could escape this sort of heartache, but maybe she never will.

"Gibbs" Tony whispers and that word right there shut her down and she freezes. He must have seen it because he takes a careful step forward and goes to reach for her hand, and she easily lets him take it. "Tim said he's in a bad state, shot twice, he's in surgery right now" he explains, he knows this will be hard for her to hear because it's hard for him to tell, but he also knows deep down she wants to hear. She always needs the details. Her hand grips his tighter and that's the moment when he pulls her to him because he needs it, and so does she.

The hug is tight, hopeful and it's shaky when she lets out a wavering breath into his chest. Gibbs was meant to be invincible, she hopes to the high heavens that he hasn't run out of luck. She's already lost one father, she cannot lose another.


End file.
